⁷ Yet no one knows what will happen^(A) because who can tell him what will happen? ⁸ No one has authority over the wind^[a] to restrain it,^(B) and there is no authority over the day of death;^(C) there is no furlough in 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 man has authority over another to his harm.

¹⁰ In such circumstances, I saw the wicked buried. They came and went from the holy place,^(D) and they were praised^[b] in the city where they did so. This too is futile. ¹¹ Because the sentence against a criminal act is not carried out quickly,^(E) the heart of people is filled with the desire to commit crime. ¹² Although a sinner commits crime a hundred times and prolongs his life,^(F) yet I also know that it will go well with God-fearing people,^(G) for they are reverent before Him. ¹³ However, it will not go well with the wicked,^(H) and they will not lengthen their days like a shadow,^(I) for they are not reverent before God.