Ecclesiastes 8
Expanded Bible
Obey the King
8 ·No one [L Who…?] is like the wise person
who ·can understand what things mean [L knows the interpretation of a matter?].
Wisdom ·brings happiness [L brightens one’s face];
it ·makes sad faces happy [L changes his stern/hard expression].
2 ·Obey [Keep; or I obey/keep] the king’s command, because ·you made a promise [of your oath] to God. 3 ·Don’t be too quick to leave the king [or You should leave his presence]. Don’t ·support something that is wrong [persist in an evil matter], because the king does whatever he ·pleases [wants]. 4 What the king says is ·law [supreme]; no one ·tells him what to do [L says to him, “What are you doing?].
5 Whoever obeys the king’s command ·will be safe [experiences no harm/evil].
A wise ·person does [L heart knows] the right thing at the right time.
6 There is a right time and a right way for everything [3:1–8; Prov. 15:23],
yet people often have many troubles.
7 They do not know what the future holds,
and no one can tell them ·what [or when it] will happen.
8 No one ·can control the wind [L has power over the wind to restrain the wind]
or ·stop his own [L power over the day of] death.
No soldier is ·released [discharged] ·in times of war [during the battle],
and evil does not ·set free [rescue] ·those who do evil [L its owner].
Justice, Rewards, and Punishment
9 I saw all of this as I ·considered [L gave my heart to] all that is done here ·on earth [L under the sun; 1:3]. Sometimes people harm those they control. 10 I saw ·the funerals of evil people [L the wicked buried and departed] who used to go in and out of the holy place [C the Temple]. They were ·honored [praised] in the same towns where they had done evil. This is useless [1:2], too [C it is not fair that the wicked thrive in life and are praised after they die].
11 When ·evil people are not punished [L the sentence for an evil deed is not carried out] right away, ·it makes others want to do evil, too [L the human heart is filled with evildoing]. 12 Though a sinner might do a hundred evil things and ·might live a long time [L their days are lengthened], I know it will be better for those who ·honor God [L fear God because they fear him]. 13 I also know it will not go well for evil people, because they do not ·honor [fear] God. Like a shadow, ·they will not last [L their days will not be lengthened]. 14 Sometimes something useless [1:2] happens on earth. ·Bad things happen to good people [L There are righteous people who are treated as if they did wicked deeds], and ·good things happen to bad people [L wicked people who are treated as if they did righteous deeds]. I say that this is also useless [1:2]. 15 So I ·decided it was more important to enjoy life [commended/praised pleasure]. ·The best that people can do [L There is nothing better] ·here on earth [L under the sun; 1:3] ·is [or than] to eat, drink, and ·enjoy life [have pleasure], because these joys will help them do the ·hard work [toil] God gives them ·here on earth [L under the sun; 2:24–26; 3:12–14, 22; 5:18–20; 9:7–10; C the little pleasures are distractions from the meaningless world].
We Cannot Understand All God Does
16 I ·tried to understand [L gave my heart to know] all that happens on earth. ·I saw how busy people are, working day and night and hardly ever sleeping [L No one sleeps day or night]. 17 I also saw all that God has done. Nobody can ·understand [comprehend; L find] what God does ·here on earth [L under the sun; 1:3]. No matter how hard people try to ·understand [L find] it, they cannot. Even if wise people say they understand, they cannot; no one can really ·understand [L find] it.
Ecclesiastes 8
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
2 I 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.”
4 Where the word of a king is, there is power;
And (E)who may say to him, “What are you doing?”
5 He who keeps his command will experience nothing harmful;
And a wise man’s heart [b]discerns both time and judgment,
6 Because (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.
9 All 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
10 Then 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. 13 But 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.
14 There 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.
16 When 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, 17 then 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.
Footnotes
- Ecclesiastes 8:1 Lit. strength
- Ecclesiastes 8:5 Lit. knows
- Ecclesiastes 8:6 is great upon him
- Ecclesiastes 8:10 Some Heb. mss., LXX, Vg. praised
The Expanded Bible, Copyright © 2011 Thomas Nelson Inc. All rights reserved.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
