Ecclesiastes 8:5–11

5 He who keeps his command will experience nothing harmful;

And a wise man’s heart 2discerns both time and judgment,

6 Because ffor every matter there is a time and judgment,

Though the misery of man 3increases greatly.

7 gFor he does not know what will happen;

So who can tell him when it will occur?

8 hNo one has power over the spirit to retain the spirit,

And no one has power in the day of death.

There is ino release from that war,

And wickedness will not deliver those who are given to it.

9 All this I have seen, and applied my heart to every work that is done under the sun: There is a time in which one man rules over another to his own hurt.

Death Comes to All

10 Then I saw the wicked buried, who had come and gone from the place of holiness, and they were jforgotten 4in the city where they had so done. This also is vanity. 11 kBecause the sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.