Ecclesiastes Chapter 8
1 Who is wise enough to figure out what things mean? Wisdom puts a glow on the face and changes a harsh countenance to a radiant one.
2 My advice to you is to keep the king’s command that you’ve sworn before God to do. 3 Don’t try to avoid your duty or put it off because it’s unpleasant. The king can do what he pleases 4 because his word is final and you’re in no position to question it. 5 The one that obeys his command won’t come to harm because the wise know how to do it and when. 6 There’s a right time and proper way to do everything even in times of trouble. 7 How can anybody avoid what nobody knows is going to happen? 8 None of us can keep our spirit from leaving or prevent our death from coming. There’s no getting out of a war, and sin won’t let people off that practice it. 9 I’ve seen all that and thought about what all people do under the sun to lord it over one another.
Eccl 8:1-9
10 Then I saw the sinful buried who use to frequent the Holy Place. They were soon forgotten in the city where they did it. It’s pointless. 11 The sentence against a sin doesn’t always come right away. That’s why people think they can get away with it. 12 Though a sinner sins 100 times and keeps living, I still know it’ll be well with those who respect God openly. 13 but it won’t be well for those sinners; they won’t lengthen their days like a shadow because they don’t respect God.
14 Something else happens that’s pointless too: good people treated like they’re bad, and bad people treated like they’re good. 15 So I recommend enjoying life, because there’s nothing better under the sun than to eat, drink, and enjoy life.
16 When I applied my mind to knowing wisdom and seeing what happens in the world (even if a person never slept), 17 I looked at everything God does and concluded that no one can figure out what’s going on under the sun no matter how hard they try. Though the wisest may claim to understand it, they haven’t figured it out.
Eccl 8:10-17