Ecclesiastes 8-12

Amplified Bible, Classic Edition

8 Who is like the wise man? And who knows the interpretation of a thing? A man’s wisdom makes his face shine, and the hardness of his countenance is changed.

² I counsel you to keep the king’s command, and that in regard to the oath of God [by which you swore to him loyalty].^(A)

³ Be not panic-stricken and hasty to get out of his presence. Persist not in an evil thing, for he does whatever he pleases.

⁴ For the word of a king is authority and power, and who can say to him, What are you doing?

⁵ Whoever observes the [king’s] command will experience no harm, and a wise man’s mind will know both when and what to do.

⁶ For every purpose and matter has its [right] time and judgment, although the misery and wickedness of man lies heavily upon him [who rebels against the king].

⁷ For he does not know what is to be, for who can tell him how and when it will be?

⁸ There is no man who has power over the spirit to retain the breath of life, neither has he power over the day of death; and there is no discharge in battle [against death], neither will wickedness deliver those who are its possessors and given to it.

⁹ All this have I seen while applying my mind to every work that is done under the sun. There is a time in which one man has power over another to his own hurt or to the other man’s.

¹⁰ And so I saw the wicked buried—those who had come and gone out of the holy place [but did not thereby escape their doom], and they are [praised and] forgotten in the city where they had done such things. This also is vanity (emptiness, falsity, vainglory, and futility)!

¹¹ Because the sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, the hearts of the sons of men are fully set to do evil.

¹² Though a sinner does evil a hundred times and his days [seemingly] are prolonged [in his wickedness], yet surely I know that it will be well with those who [reverently] fear God, who revere and worship Him, realizing His continual presence.^(B)

¹³ But it will not be well with the wicked, neither will he prolong his days like a shadow, because he does not [reverently] fear and worship God.^(C)

¹⁴ Here also is a futility that goes on upon the earth: there are righteous men who fare as though they were wicked, and wicked men who fare as though they were righteous. I say that this also is vanity (emptiness, falsity, and futility)!

¹⁵ Then I commended enjoyment, because a man has no better thing under the sun [without God] than to eat and to drink and to be joyful, for that will remain with him in his toil through the days of his life which God gives him under the sun.

¹⁶ When I applied my mind to know wisdom and to see the business activity and the painful effort that take place upon the earth—how neither day nor night some men’s eyes sleep—

¹⁷ Then I saw all the work of God, that man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun—because however much a man may toil in seeking, yet he will not find it out; yes, more than that, though a wise man thinks and claims he knows, yet will he not be able to find it out.^(D)

9 For all this I took to heart, exploring and examining it all, how the righteous (the upright, in right standing with God) and the wise and their works are in the hands of God. Whether it is to be love or hatred no man knows; all that is before them.

² All things come alike to all. There is one event to the righteous and to the wicked, to the good and to the clean and to the unclean; to him who sacrifices and to him who does not sacrifice. As is the good man, so is the sinner; and he who swears is as he who fears and shuns an oath.

³ This evil is in all that is done under the sun: one fate comes to all. Also the hearts of men are full of evil, and madness is in their hearts while they live, and after that they go to the dead.

⁴ [There is no exemption] but he who is joined to all the living has hope—for a living dog is better than a dead lion.

⁵ For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing; and they have no more reward [here], for the memory of them is forgotten.

⁶ Their love and their hatred and their envy have already perished; neither have they any more a share in anything that is done under the sun.

⁷ Go your way, eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a cheerful heart [if you are righteous, wise, and in the hands of God], for God has already accepted your works.

⁸ Let your garments be always white [with purity], and let your head not lack [the] oil [of gladness].

⁹ Live joyfully with the wife whom you love all the days of your vain life which He has given you under the sun—all the days of futility. For that is your portion in this life and in your work at which you toil under the sun.

¹⁰ Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for there is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol (the place of the dead), where you are going.

¹¹ I returned and saw under the sun that the race is not to the swift nor the battle to the strong, neither is bread to the wise nor riches to men of intelligence and understanding nor favor to men of skill; but time and chance happen to them all.^(E)

¹² For man also knows not his time [of death]: as the fishes are taken in an evil net, and as the birds are caught in the snare, so are the sons of men snared in an evil time when [calamity] falls suddenly upon them.

¹³ This [illustration of] wisdom have I seen also under the sun, and it seemed great to me:

¹⁴ There was a little city with few men in it. And a great king came against it and besieged it and built great bulwarks against it.

¹⁵ But there was found in it a poor wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city. Yet no man [seriously] remembered that poor man.

¹⁶ But I say that wisdom is better than might, though the poor man’s wisdom is despised and his words are not heeded.

¹⁷ The words of wise men heard in quiet are better than the shouts of him who rules among fools.

¹⁸ Wisdom is better than weapons of war, but one sinner destroys much good.

10 Dead flies cause the ointment of the perfumer to putrefy [and] send forth a vile odor; so does a little folly [in him who is valued for wisdom] outweigh wisdom and honor.

² A wise man’s heart turns him toward his right hand, but a fool’s heart toward his left.^(F)

³ Even when he who is a fool walks along the road, his heart and understanding fail him, and he says of everyone and to everyone that he is a fool.

⁴ If the temper of the ruler rises up against you, do not leave your place [or show a resisting spirit]; for gentleness and calmness prevent or put a stop to great offenses.

⁵ There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, like an error which proceeds from the ruler:

⁶ Folly is set in great dignity and in high places, and the rich sit in low places.

⁷ I have seen slaves on horses, and princes walking like slaves on the earth.

⁸ He who digs a pit [for others] will fall into it, and whoever breaks through a fence or a [stone] wall, a serpent will bite him.^(G)

⁹ Whoever removes [landmark] stones or hews out [new ones with similar intent] will be hurt with them, and he who fells trees will be endangered by them.^(H)

¹⁰ If the ax is dull and the man does not whet the edge, he must put forth more strength; but wisdom helps him to succeed.

¹¹ If the serpent bites before it is charmed, then it is no use to call a charmer [and the slanderer is no better than the uncharmed snake].

¹² The words of a wise man’s mouth are gracious and win him favor, but the lips of a fool consume him.

¹³ The beginning of the words of his mouth is foolishness, and the end of his talk is wicked madness.

¹⁴ A fool also multiplies words, though no man can tell what will be—and what will happen after he is gone, who can tell him?

¹⁵ The labor of fools wearies every one of them, because [he is so ignorant of the ordinary matters that] he does not even know how to get to town.

¹⁶ Woe to you, O land, when your king is a child or a servant and when your officials feast in the morning!

¹⁷ Happy (fortunate and to be envied) are you, O land, when your king is a free man and of noble birth and character and when your officials feast at the proper time—for strength and not for drunkenness!^(I)

¹⁸ Through indolence the rafters [of state affairs] decay and the roof sinks in, and through idleness of the hands the house leaks.

¹⁹ [Instead of repairing the breaches, the officials] make a feast for laughter, serve wine to cheer life, and [depend on tax] money to answer for all of it.

²⁰ Curse not the king, no, not even in your thoughts, and curse not the rich in your bedchamber, for a bird of the air will carry the voice, and a winged creature will tell the matter.^(J)

11 Cast your bread upon the waters, for you will find it after many days.

² Give a portion to seven, yes, even [divide it] to eight, for you know not what evil may come upon the earth.

³ If the clouds are full of rain, they empty themselves upon the earth; and if a tree falls toward the south or toward the north, in the place where the tree falls, there it will lie.

⁴ He who observes the wind [and waits for all conditions to be favorable] will not sow, and he who regards the clouds will not reap.

⁵ As you know not what is the way of the wind, or how the spirit comes to the bones in the womb of a pregnant woman, even so you know not the work of God, Who does all.

⁶ In the morning sow your seed, and in the evening withhold not your hands, for you know not which shall prosper, whether this or that, or whether both alike will be good.

⁷ Truly the light is sweet, and a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold the sun.

⁸ Yes, if a man should live many years, let him rejoice in them all; yet let him [seriously] remember the days of darkness, for they will be many. All that comes is vanity (emptiness, falsity, vainglory, and futility)!

⁹ Rejoice, O young man, in your adolescence, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your [full-grown] youth. And walk in the ways of your heart and in the sight of your eyes, but know that for all these things God will bring you into judgment.

¹⁰ Therefore remove [the lusts that end in] sorrow and vexation from your heart and mind and put away evil from your body, for youth and the dawn of life are vanity [transitory, idle, empty, and devoid of truth].^(K)

12 Remember [earnestly] also your Creator [that you are not your own, but His property now] in the days of your youth, before the evil days come or the years draw near when you will say [of physical pleasures], I have no enjoyment in them—^(L)

² Before the sun and the light and the moon and the stars are darkened [sight is impaired], and the clouds [of depression] return after the rain [of tears];

³ In the day when the keepers of the house [the hands and the arms] tremble, and the strong men [the feet and the knees] bow themselves, and the grinders [the molar teeth] cease because they are few, and those who look out of the windows [the eyes] are darkened;

⁴ When the doors [the lips] are shut in the streets and the sound of the grinding [of the teeth] is low, and one rises up at the voice of a bird and the crowing of a cock, and all the daughters of music [the voice and the ear] are brought low;

⁵ Also when [the old] are afraid of danger from that which is high, and fears are in the way, and the almond tree [their white hair] blooms, and the grasshopper [a little thing] is a burden, and desire and appetite fail, because man goes to his everlasting home and the mourners go about the streets or marketplaces.^(M)

⁶ [Remember your Creator earnestly now] before the silver cord [of life] is snapped apart, or the golden bowl is broken, or the pitcher is broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern [and the whole circulatory system of the blood ceases to function];

⁷ Then shall the dust [out of which God made man’s body] return to the earth as it was, and the spirit shall return to God Who gave it.

⁸ Vapor of vapors and futility of futilities, says the Preacher. All is futility (emptiness, falsity, vainglory, and transitoriness)!

⁹ And furthermore, because the Preacher was wise, he [Solomon] still taught the people knowledge; and he pondered and searched out and set in order many proverbs.

¹⁰ The Preacher sought acceptable words, even to write down rightly words of truth or correct sentiment.

¹¹ The words of the wise are like prodding goads, and firmly fixed [in the mind] like nails are the collected sayings which are given [as proceeding] from one Shepherd.^(N)

¹² But about going further [than the words given by one Shepherd], my son, be warned. Of making many books there is no end [so do not believe everything you read], and much study is a weariness of the flesh.

¹³ All has been heard; the end of the matter is: Fear God [revere and worship Him, knowing that He is] and keep His commandments, for this is the whole of man [the full, original purpose of his creation, the object of God’s providence, the root of character, the foundation of all happiness, the adjustment to all inharmonious circumstances and conditions under the sun] and the whole [duty] for every man.

¹⁴ For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it is good or evil.^(O)