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Wala sing may makapareho sa maalamon nga tawo, nga nakahibalo magpaathag sang mga butang. Ang kaalam sang tawo nagapanayanaya sa iya guya, kag nagakuha sang iya pagkurisong.

Tumana ang Hari

Tumana ang sugo sang hari tungod nga ginpromisa mo sa Dios nga himuon mo ini. Indi pagpabay-i ang imo katungdanan sa hari, kag indi ka mag-upod sa mga nagaplano sing malain kontra sa iya,[a] kay mahimo sang hari ang bisan ano nga luyag niya. May awtoridad ang mga sugo sang hari, kag wala sing may makapamatok sini. Indi maano ang bisan sin-o nga nagatuman sini. Ang maalamon nga tawo nakahibalo kon san-o kag paano niya himuon ang isa ka butang. Kay ang tagsa ka butang may husto nga tion kag pamaagi sa paghimo sini sa pihak sang madamo nga mga kalisod nga ginaatubang sang tawo.

Tungod nga wala sing tawo nga nakahibalo sang palaabuton, wala sing may makasugid sa kay bisan sin-o kon ano ang matabo. Subong nga indi mapunggan sang tawo ang hangin,[b] indi man niya mapunggan ang iya kamatayon. Pareho ini sa inaway nga indi siya makapalagyo. Kag ang iya kalautan indi gid makaluwas sa iya sa kamatayon.

Nakita ko ini tanan samtang ginahunahuna ko ang parte sa mga butang nga ginahimo diri sa kalibutan, pareho kon ang isa ka tawo may gahom sa paghalit sang iya isigkatawo. 10 Nakita ko man ang mga malaot nga ginlubong. Ini sila permi nagasulod sadto sa balaan nga siyudad sang Jerusalem nga sa diin naghimo sila sang kalautan. Kag sa sini mismo nga lugar ginadayaw [c] sila sang mga tawo. Wala man ini sing pulos.

11 Kon indi dayon masentensyahan ang tawo nga nakasala, nagahunahuna ang iban sa paghimo sang malain. 12 Bisan makasala ang tawo sing madamo gid,[d] mahimo nga magakabuhi siya gihapon sing malawig. Pero nahibaluan ko nga maayo ang dangatan sang tawo nga nagatahod sa Dios, 13 kag malain ang dangatan sang malaot nga tawo nga wala nagatahod sa Dios, kag indi maglawig ang iya kabuhi kundi mangin pareho ini sa landong nga dali lang madula. 14 Ang problema lang diri sa kalibutan, kon kaisa ang matarong nga mga tawo amo ang nagabaton sang silot nga para kuntani sa mga malaot, kag ang malaot nga mga tawo amo ang nagabaton sang padya nga para kuntani sa mga matarong. Makasiling ako nga wala man ini sing pulos.

15 Gani para sa akon, mas maayo pa sa tawo nga magkalipay siya sa iya kabuhi. Wala sing iban nga maayo sa iya diri sa kalibutan kundi ang magkaon, mag-inom kag magkalipay samtang nagatrabaho siya sa bug-os niya nga kabuhi nga ginhatag sang Dios sa iya diri sa kalibutan.

16 Adlaw-gab-i wala ako nagatulog sa pagpaninguha nga makaangkon sang kaalam para maintiendihan ko ang mga nagakalatabo sa kalibutan. 17 Nakita ko ang tanan nga ginahimo sang Dios diri sa kalibutan, kag wala gid sing tawo nga makaintiendi sini. Bisan ano pa ang pagpaninguha sang tawo nga intiendihon ini, indi niya maintiendihan. Bisan magsiling pa ang maalamon nga tawo nga naintiendihan niya, ang matuod indi gid niya maintiendihan.

Footnotes

  1. 8:3 Indi… iya: ukon, Maghalin ka sa presensya sang hari; indi ka magtiner sa sining delikado nga lugar.
  2. 8:8 ang hangin: ukon, ang iya espiritu kon maghalin na.
  3. 8:10 ginadayaw: Amo ini sa Septuagint kag sa iban nga mga kopya sang Hebreo. Sa kalabanan nga mga kopya sang Hebreo, ginakalimtan.
  4. 8:12 madamo gid: sa literal, isa ka gatos.

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

Obey the king’s command, I say, because you took an oath before God. 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. Since a king’s word is supreme, who can say to him, “What are you doing?(B)

Whoever obeys his command will come to no harm,
    and the wise heart will know the proper time and procedure.
For there is a proper time and procedure for every matter,(C)
    though a person may be weighed down by misery.

Since no one knows the future,
    who can tell someone else what is to come?
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.

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

  1. Ecclesiastes 8:8 Or over the human spirit to retain it, / and so
  2. Ecclesiastes 8:9 Or to their
  3. Ecclesiastes 8:10 Some Hebrew manuscripts and Septuagint (Aquila); most Hebrew manuscripts and are forgotten

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.

I counsel thee to keep the king's commandment, and that in regard of the oath of God.

Be not hasty to go out of his sight: stand not in an evil thing; for he doeth whatsoever pleaseth him.

Where the word of a king is, there is power: and who may say unto him, What doest thou?

Whoso keepeth the commandment shall feel no evil thing: and a wise man's heart discerneth both time and judgment.

Because to every purpose there is time and judgment, therefore the misery of man is great upon him.

For he knoweth not that which shall be: for who can tell him when it shall be?

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.

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.