Ecclesiastes 8-9

New King James Version

Obey Authorities for God’s Sake

8 Who is like a wise man?
And who knows the interpretation of a thing?
^(A)A man’s wisdom makes his face shine,
And ^(B)the ^[a]sternness of his face is changed.

Obey Authorities for God’s Sake

²I say, “Keep the king’s commandment ^(C)for the sake of your oath to God. ³^(D)Do not be hasty to go from his presence. Do not take your stand for an evil thing, for he does whatever pleases him.”

⁴Where the word of a king is, there is power;
And ^(E)who may say to him, “What are you doing?”
⁵He who keeps his command will experience nothing harmful;
And a wise man’s heart ^[b]discerns both time and judgment,
⁶Because ^(F)for every matter there is a time and judgment,
Though the misery of man ^[c]increases greatly.
⁷^(G)For he does not know what will happen;
So who can tell him when it will occur?
⁸^(H)No one has power over the spirit to retain the spirit,
And no one has power in the day of death.
There is ^(I)no release from that war,
And wickedness will not deliver those who are given to it.

⁹All 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

¹⁰Then I saw the wicked buried, who had come and gone from the place of holiness, and they were ^(J)forgotten^[d] in the city where they had so done. This also is vanity. ¹¹^(K)Because 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. ¹²^(L)Though a sinner does evil a hundred times, and his days are prolonged, yet I surely know that ^(M)it will be well with those who fear God, who fear before Him. ¹³But it will not be well with the wicked; nor will he prolong his days, which are as a shadow, because he does not fear before God.

¹⁴There is a vanity which occurs on earth, that there are just men to whom it ^(N)happens according to the work of the wicked; again, there are wicked men to whom it happens according to the work of the ^(O)righteous. I said that this also is vanity.

¹⁵^(P)So I commended enjoyment, because a man has nothing better under the sun than to eat, drink, and be merry; for this will remain with him in his labor all the days of his life which God gives him under the sun.

¹⁶When I applied my heart to know wisdom and to see the business that is done on earth, even though one sees no sleep day or night, ¹⁷then I saw all the work of God, that ^(Q)a man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun. For though a man labors to discover it, yet he will not find it; moreover, though a wise man attempts to know it, he will not be able to find it.

Death Comes to All

9 For I ^[e]considered all this in my heart, so that I could declare it all: ^(R)that the righteous and the wise and their works are in the hand of God. People know neither love nor hatred by anything they see before them. ²^(S)All things come alike to all:

One event happens to the righteous and the wicked;
To the ^[f]good, the clean, and the unclean;
To him who sacrifices and him who does not sacrifice.
As is the good, so is the sinner;
He who takes an oath as he who fears an oath.

³This is an evil in all that is done under the sun: that one thing happens to all. Truly the hearts of the sons of men are full of evil; madness is in their hearts while they live, and after that they go to the dead. ⁴But for him who is joined to all the living there is hope, for a living dog is better than a dead lion.

⁵For the living know that they will die;
But ^(T)the dead know nothing,
And they have no more reward,
For ^(U)the memory of them is forgotten.
⁶Also their love, their hatred, and their envy have now perished;
Nevermore will they have a share
In anything done under the sun.

⁷Go, ^(V)eat your bread with joy,
And drink your wine with a merry heart;
For God has already accepted your works.
⁸Let your garments always be white,
And let your head lack no oil.

⁹^[g]Live joyfully with the wife whom you love all the days of your vain life which He has given you under the sun, all your days of vanity; ^(W)for that is your portion in life, and in the labor which you perform under the sun.

¹⁰^(X)Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your ^(Y)might; for there is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where you are going.

¹¹I returned ^(Z)and saw under the sun that—

The race is not to the swift,
Nor the battle to the strong,
Nor bread to the wise,
Nor riches to men of understanding,
Nor favor to men of skill;
But time and ^(AA)chance happen to them all.
¹²For ^(AB)man also does not know his time:
Like fish taken in a cruel net,
Like birds caught in a snare,
So the sons of men are ^(AC)snared in an evil time,
When it falls suddenly upon them.

Wisdom Superior to Folly

¹³This wisdom I have also seen under the sun, and it seemed great to me: ¹⁴^(AD)There was a little city with few men in it; and a great king came against it, besieged it, and built great ^[h]snares around it. ¹⁵Now there was found in it a poor wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city. Yet no one remembered that same poor man.

¹⁶Then I said:

“Wisdom is better than ^(AE)strength.
Nevertheless ^(AF)the poor man’s wisdom is despised,
And his words are not heard.
¹⁷Words of the wise, spoken quietly, should be heard
Rather than the shout of a ruler of fools.
¹⁸Wisdom is better than weapons of war;
But ^(AG)one sinner destroys much good.”