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

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.^(A) 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?^(B)”

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,^(C)
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. ¹⁰Then 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.

¹¹When the sentence for a crime is not quickly carried out, people’s hearts are filled with schemes to do wrong. ¹²Although 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) ¹³Yet 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.

¹⁴There 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) ¹⁵So 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.

¹⁶When 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— ¹⁷then 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

Psalm 75

New International Version

Psalm 75^[a]

For the director of music. To the tune of “Do Not Destroy.” A psalm of Asaph. A song.

¹We praise you, God,
we praise you, for your Name is near;^(A)
people tell of your wonderful deeds.^(B)

²You say, “I choose the appointed time;^(C)
    it is I who judge with equity.^(D)
³When the earth and all its people quake,^(E)
    it is I who hold its pillars^(F) firm.^[b]
⁴To the arrogant^(G) I say, ‘Boast no more,’^(H)
    and to the wicked, ‘Do not lift up your horns.^[c]^(I)
⁵Do not lift your horns against heaven;
    do not speak so defiantly.^(J)’”

⁶No one from the east or the west
    or from the desert can exalt themselves.
⁷It is God who judges:^(K)
    He brings one down, he exalts another.^(L)
⁸In the hand of the Lord is a cup
    full of foaming wine mixed^(M) with spices;
he pours it out, and all the wicked of the earth
    drink it down to its very dregs.^(N)

⁹As for me, I will declare^(O) this forever;
I will sing^(P) praise to the God of Jacob,^(Q)
¹⁰who says, “I will cut off the horns of all the wicked,
but the horns of the righteous will be lifted up.”^(R)