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Ecclesiastes 8
New International Version
Ecclesiastes 8
New International Version
8 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
2 Obey the king’s command, I say, because you took an oath before God. 3 Do not be in a hurry to leave the king’s presence.(A) Do not stand up for a bad cause, for he will do whatever he pleases. 4 Since a king’s word is supreme, who can say to him, “What are you doing?(B)”
5 Whoever obeys his command will come to no harm,
and the wise heart will know the proper time and procedure.
6 For there is a proper time and procedure for every matter,(C)
though a person may be weighed down by misery.
7 Since no one knows the future,
who can tell someone else what is to come?
8 As 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.
9 All 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. 10 Then too, I saw the wicked buried(D)—those who used to come and go from the holy place and receive praise[c] in the city where they did this. This too is meaningless.
11 When the sentence for a crime is not quickly carried out, people’s hearts are filled with schemes to do wrong. 12 Although a wicked person who commits a hundred crimes may live a long time, I know that it will go better(E) with those who fear God,(F) who are reverent before him.(G) 13 Yet because the wicked do not fear God,(H) it will not go well with them, and their days(I) will not lengthen like a shadow.
14 There is something else meaningless that occurs on earth: the righteous who get what the wicked deserve, and the wicked who get what the righteous deserve.(J) This too, I say, is meaningless.(K) 15 So I commend the enjoyment of life(L), because there is nothing better for a person under the sun than to eat and drink(M) and be glad.(N) Then joy will accompany them in their toil all the days of the life God has given them under the sun.
16 When I applied my mind to know wisdom(O) and to observe the labor that is done on earth(P)—people getting no sleep day or night— 17 then I saw all that God has done.(Q) No one can comprehend what goes on under the sun. Despite all their efforts to search it out, no one can discover its meaning. Even if the wise claim they know, they cannot really comprehend it.(R)
Footnotes
- Ecclesiastes 8:8 Or over the human spirit to retain it, / and so
- Ecclesiastes 8:9 Or to their
- Ecclesiastes 8:10 Some Hebrew manuscripts and Septuagint (Aquila); most Hebrew manuscripts and are forgotten
Eclesiastés 8
La Biblia de las Américas
Eclesiastés 8
La Biblia de las Américas
8 ¿Quién es como el sabio?
¿Y quién otro sabe la explicación de un asunto?
La sabiduría del hombre ilumina su faz
y hace que la dureza de su rostro cambie(A).
2 Yo digo: Guarda el mandato[a] del rey por causa del juramento de Dios(B). 3 No te apresures a irte de su presencia(C). No te unas a una causa impía, porque él hará todo lo que le plazca. 4 Puesto que la palabra del rey es soberana, ¿quién le dirá: Qué haces(D)?
5 Él que guarda el mandato(E) real no experimenta ningún mal(F);
y el corazón del sabio conoce el tiempo y el modo.
6 Porque para cada deleite hay un tiempo y un modo(G),
aunque la aflicción del hombre sea mucha sobre él.
7 Si nadie sabe qué sucederá(H),
¿quién le anunciará cómo ha de suceder?
8 No hay hombre que tenga potestad para refrenar el viento con el viento,
ni potestad sobre el día de la muerte(I);
y no se da licencia en tiempo de guerra,
ni la impiedad salvará a los que la practican[b](J).
9 Todo esto he visto, y he puesto mi corazón en toda obra que se hace bajo el sol, cuando el hombre domina a otro hombre para su mal(K).
10 Y también he visto a los impíos ser sepultados, los que entraban y salían del lugar santo, y que fueron pronto olvidados(L) en la ciudad en que así habían actuado. También esto es vanidad. 11 Como la sentencia contra una mala obra no se ejecuta enseguida(M), por eso el corazón de los hijos de los hombres está en ellos entregado enteramente a hacer el mal(N). 12 Aunque el pecador haga el mal cien veces y alargue su vida(O), con todo, yo sé que les irá bien a los que temen a Dios(P), a los que temen ante su presencia. 13 Pero no le irá bien al impío(Q), ni alargará sus días como una sombra(R), porque no teme ante la presencia de Dios. 14 Hay una vanidad que se hace sobre la tierra: hay justos a quienes les sucede[c] conforme a las obras de los impíos(S), y hay impíos a quienes les sucede[d] conforme a las obras de los justos(T). Digo que también esto es vanidad. 15 Por tanto yo alabé el placer, porque no hay nada bueno para el hombre bajo el sol sino comer, beber y divertirse(U), y esto le acompañará en sus afanes[e] en los días de su vida que Dios le haya dado bajo el sol.
16 Cuando apliqué mi corazón a conocer la sabiduría y a ver la tarea que ha sido hecha sobre la tierra(V) (aunque uno no durmiera[f] ni de día ni de noche(W)), 17 y vi toda la obra de Dios, decidí que el hombre no puede descubrir la obra que se ha hecho(X) bajo el sol. Aunque el hombre busque con afán, no la descubrirá; y aunque el sabio diga que la conoce, no puede descubrirla(Y).
Footnotes
- Eclesiastés 8:2 Lit., la boca
- Eclesiastés 8:8 Lit., sus poseedores
- Eclesiastés 8:14 Lit., golpea
- Eclesiastés 8:14 Lit., golpea
- Eclesiastés 8:15 Lit., su trabajo
- Eclesiastés 8:16 Lit., no vea sueño en sus ojos
Ecclesiastes 8
King James Version
Ecclesiastes 8
King James Version
8 Who is as the wise man? and who knoweth the interpretation of a thing? a man's wisdom maketh his face to shine, and the boldness of his face shall be changed.
2 I counsel thee to keep the king's commandment, and that in regard of the oath of God.
3 Be not hasty to go out of his sight: stand not in an evil thing; for he doeth whatsoever pleaseth him.
4 Where the word of a king is, there is power: and who may say unto him, What doest thou?
5 Whoso keepeth the commandment shall feel no evil thing: and a wise man's heart discerneth both time and judgment.
6 Because to every purpose there is time and judgment, therefore the misery of man is great upon him.
7 For he knoweth not that which shall be: for who can tell him when it shall be?
8 There is no man that hath power over the spirit to retain the spirit; neither hath he power in the day of death: and there is no discharge in that war; neither shall wickedness deliver those that are given to it.
9 All this have I seen, and applied my heart unto every work that is done under the sun: there is a time wherein one man ruleth over another to his own hurt.
10 And so I saw the wicked buried, who had come and gone from the place of the holy, and they were forgotten in the city where they had so done: this is also vanity.
11 Because 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 Though a sinner do evil an hundred times, and his days be prolonged, yet surely I know that it shall be well with them that fear God, which fear before him:
13 But it shall not be well with the wicked, neither shall he prolong his days, which are as a shadow; because he feareth not before God.
14 There is a vanity which is done upon the earth; that there be just men, unto whom it happeneth according to the work of the wicked; again, there be wicked men, to whom it happeneth according to the work of the righteous: I said that this also is vanity.
15 Then I commended mirth, because a man hath no better thing under the sun, than to eat, and to drink, and to be merry: for that shall abide with him of his labour the days of his life, which God giveth him under the sun.
16 When I applied mine heart to know wisdom, and to see the business that is done upon the earth: (for also there is that neither day nor night seeth sleep with his eyes:)
17 Then I beheld all the work of God, that a man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun: because though a man labour to seek it out, yet he shall not find it; yea farther; though a wise man think to know it, yet shall he not be able to find it.
New International Version (NIV) 
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