Ecclesiastes 8:1–9

Who is like the wise?

Who knows the explanation of things?

A person’s wisdom brightens their face

and changes its hard appearance.

Obey the King

²Obey the king’s command, I say, because you took an oath before God. ³Do not be in a hurry to leave the king’s presence.^e Do not stand up for a bad cause, for he will do whatever he pleases. ⁴Since a king’s word is supreme, who can say to him, “What are you doing?^f”

⁵Whoever obeys his command will come to no harm,

and the wise heart will know the proper time and procedure.

⁶For there is a proper time and procedure for every matter,^g

though a person may be weighed down by misery.

⁷Since no one knows the future,

who can tell someone else what is to come?

⁸As no one has power over the wind to contain it,

so^a no one has power over the time of their death.

As no one is discharged in time of war,

so wickedness will not release those who practice it.

⁹All this I saw, as I applied my mind to everything done under the sun. There is a time when a man lords it over others to his own^b hurt.