Wisdom, Authorities, and Inequities

8 Who is like the wise person, and who knows the interpretation of a matter? A person’s wisdom brightens his face, and the sternness of his face is changed.^(A)

² Keep^[a] the king’s command because of your oath made before God.^{(B) 3} Do not be in a hurry; leave his presence,^(C) and don’t persist in a bad cause, since he will do whatever he wants. ⁴ For the king’s word is authoritative, and who can say to him, “What are you doing?” ^{(D) 5} The one who keeps a command will not experience anything harmful,^(E) and a wise heart knows the right time and procedure. ⁶ For every activity there is a right time and procedure,^(F) even though a person’s troubles are heavy on him. ⁷ Yet no one knows what will happen^(G) because who can tell him what will happen? ⁸ No one has authority over the wind^[b] to restrain it,^(H) and there is no authority over the day of death;^(I) no one is discharged during battle, and wickedness will not allow those who practice it to escape. ⁹ All this I have seen, applying my mind to all the work that is done under the sun, at a time when one person has authority over another to his harm.

¹⁰ In such circumstances, I saw the wicked buried. They came and went from the holy place,^(J) and they were praised^[c] in the city where they did those things. This too is futile. ¹¹ Because the sentence against an evil act is not carried out quickly,^(K) the heart of people is filled with the desire to commit evil. ¹² Although a sinner does evil a hundred times and prolongs his life,^(L) I also know that it will go well with God-fearing people,^(M) for they are reverent before him. ¹³ However, it will not go well with the wicked,^(N) and they will not lengthen their days like a shadow,^(O) for they are not reverent before God.

¹⁴ There is a futility that is done on the earth: there are righteous people who get what the actions of the wicked deserve,^(P) and there are wicked people who get what the actions of the righteous deserve.^(Q) I say that this too is futile. ¹⁵ So I commended enjoyment because there is nothing better for a person under the sun than to eat, drink, and enjoy himself,^(R) for this will accompany him in his labor during the days of his life that God gives him under the sun.

¹⁶ When I applied my mind to know wisdom^(S) and to observe the activity that is done on the earth (even though one’s eyes do not close in sleep day or night), ¹⁷ I observed all the work of God and concluded that a person is unable to discover the work that is done under the sun. Even though a person labors hard to explore it, he cannot find it;^(T) even if a wise person claims to know it, he is unable to discover it.