Predikaren 8
Svenska Folkbibeln 2015
Levnadsregler och tänkespråk
8 (A) Vem är som den vise?
Vem kan förklara saker och ting?
Visheten lyser upp
människans ansikte,
det hårda i hennes uppsyn
förvandlas.
2 (B) Jag säger: Följ kungens ord
på grund av den ed
som du gett inför Gud.[a]
3 (C) Var inte snabb att överge honom,
stå inte upp för en ond sak.
Han gör vad han vill,
4 (D) för kungens ord har makt.
Vem kan säga till honom:
”Vad gör du?”
5 Den som håller budet
vill inte veta av något ont.
Den vises hjärta känner tid och sätt[b].
6 (E) För allt finns en tid och ett sätt,
och en människas ondska
vilar tungt på henne.
7 (F) Hon vet ju inte vad som kommer,
vem kan säga henne hur det blir?
8 (G) Ingen människa har makt
över anden[c]
så att hon kan hålla kvar anden,
och ingen har makt
över dödens dag.
I krig kommer ingen undan,
och ondska kan inte rädda
den ogudaktige.
Världens orättvisor
9 (H) Allt detta såg jag, när jag betraktade allt som sker under solen, i en tid när människa har makt över människa till hennes olycka. 10 Jag såg också de ogudaktiga bli begravda och gå till vila, medan de som gjort det rätta måste dra bort från den heliga platsen och blev bortglömda[d] i staden. Också det är förgängligt.
11 (I) Därför att domen inte genast fälls över det onda, styrks människors barn i sina hjärtan att göra det onda. 12 (J) Men även om syndaren gör det onda hundra gånger om och får leva länge, så vet jag ändå: Det går väl för de gudfruktiga eftersom de fruktar Gud, 13 (K) men illa för den orättfärdige. Hans liv förlängs inte som skuggan[e], eftersom han inte fruktar Gud. 14 (L) Förgängligt är det som sker på jorden, att det kan gå de rättfärdiga som om de gjort ogudaktiga gärningar, och att det kan gå de ogudaktiga som om de gjort rättfärdiga gärningar. Jag sade: Också det är förgängligt.
15 (M) Jag prisar glädjen, för det finns inget bättre för människan under solen än att hon äter och dricker och är glad[f]. Det är vad som följer henne i hennes möda de livsdagar Gud ger henne under solen.
16 När jag inriktade mitt hjärta på att förstå visheten och såg den verksamhet som pågår på jorden – varken dag eller natt unnar man sig sömn – 17 (N) då insåg jag att hela Guds verk är sådant att människan inte kan fatta det som sker under solen. För hur mycket människan än strävar och utforskar det, förstår hon det ändå inte. Även om den vise säger sig förstå det, kan han ändå inte fatta det.
Footnotes
- 8:2 den ed som du gett inför Gud Undersåtar avkrävdes en trohetsed till sin kung (jfr Hes 17:13).
- 8:5 sätt Annan översättning: ”dom” (även i vers 6).
- 8:8 anden Annan översättning: ”vinden”.
- 8:10 bortglömda Andra handskrifter (så Septuaginta): ”hyllade”.
- 8:13 förlängs … som skuggan När solen börjar gå ner.
- 8:15 äter och dricker och är glad Uttrycket förknippas särskilt med Salomos regim som präglades av fred och välstånd (1 Kung 4:20, 1 Krön 29:22).
Ecclesiastes 8
The Voice
8 Teacher: How rare to find one who is truly wise,
one who knows how to interpret this or solve that!
Wisdom brightens the countenance of the face,
and softens hard lines etched in the face.
2 Here’s my advice: keep what comes from the king’s mouth; after all, this matter is really an oath from God. 3 Don’t be in a hurry to leave the king’s presence or throw your support behind a bad cause, because the king can do whatever he wishes. 4 Since the king has the power to enforce his word, who dares ask him, “What are you doing?” 5 Whoever does what the king commands will stay out of trouble, and the wise heart will figure out the proper time and proper way to proceed. 6 Yes, there is a time and a way to deal with every situation, even when a person’s troubles are on the rise. 7 For no one knows what is going to happen, so who can warn him before it does? 8 No one can master the wind and contain it—it blows as it will. No one has power over the day of death—it comes as it will. No soldier is discharged in the heat of battle, and certainly wickedness will not release those entangled in it. 9 I have witnessed all of this as I have focused my attention on all that is done under the sun: whenever one person oppresses another to lift himself up, it only hurts him in the end.
10 I have witnessed the wicked buried with honor because during their lifetimes they would go in and out of the temple, and soon their crimes were forgotten in the very city where they committed them. This, too, is fleeting.[a] 11 When the penalty for a crime is not carried out quickly, then people start scheming to commit their own crimes. 12 Although a wicked person commits a hundred sins and still lives a long life, I am confident it will go better for those who worship the one True God and stand in awe before Him, 13 and it will not go well for the wicked nor will their days grow long like evening shadows because they do not stand in awe of God.
14 Here is another example of the fleeting nature of our world: there are just people who get what the wicked deserve; there are wicked people who get what the just deserve. I say this, too, is fleeting. 15 And so I heartily recommended that you pursue joy, for the best a person can do under the sun is to enjoy life. Eat, drink, and be happy. If this is your attitude, joy will carry you through the toil every day that God gives you under the sun.
16 When I applied myself to the study of wisdom and reflected on the kinds of tasks that occupy people’s attention on earth, I noticed how little sleep they generally get, whether day or night. 17 I saw all the works and ways of God, and it became clear to me that no one is able to grasp fully this mystery called life. Try as we might, we cannot discover what has been done under the sun. Even if the wise claim to know, they really haven’t discovered it.
Footnotes
- 8:10 Meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain.
Ecclesiastes 8
King James Version
8 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.
2 I counsel thee to keep the king's commandment, and that in regard of the oath of God.
3 Be not hasty to go out of his sight: stand not in an evil thing; for he doeth whatsoever pleaseth him.
4 Where the word of a king is, there is power: and who may say unto him, What doest thou?
5 Whoso keepeth the commandment shall feel no evil thing: and a wise man's heart discerneth both time and judgment.
6 Because to every purpose there is time and judgment, therefore the misery of man is great upon him.
7 For he knoweth not that which shall be: for who can tell him when it shall be?
8 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.
9 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.
Svenska Folkbibeln 2015, Copyright © 2015 by Svenska Folkbibeln Foundation
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.