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Ecclesiastes 8:1-17 — Obey the King; The Injustices of Life

Eccl.8.1-17

¹Who is like the wise man? And who knows the interpretation of a matter? A man's wisdom illuminates his face, and the sternness of his face is changed. ²I say: Keep the king's command, because of the oath of God. ³Do not be hasty to leave his presence, and do not persist in an evil matter, for he will do all that he pleases. ⁴For the word of the king is authoritative, and who can say to him, 'What are you doing?' ⁵Whoever keeps a command will know no evil thing, and a wise heart knows the proper time and procedure. ⁶For there is a proper time and procedure for every matter, though a man's misery is heavy upon him. ⁷For no one knows what will happen; for who can tell him how it will be? ⁸No man has authority over the wind to contain the wind, and no one has authority over the day of death. There is no discharge in war, and wickedness will not deliver those who practice it. ⁹All this I have seen, applying my mind to every deed that is done under the sun, a time when one man exercises power over another to his detriment. ¹⁰And then I saw the wicked buried, who used to come and go from the holy place, and they were forgotten in the city where they had done so. This too is vanity. ¹¹Because the sentence against an evil deed is not executed quickly, therefore the hearts of the sons of men are fully set to do evil. ¹²Although a sinner does evil a hundred times and prolongs his life, yet I also know that it will be well with those who fear God, who are reverent before Him. ¹³But it will not be well with the wicked, nor will he prolong his days like a shadow, because he does not fear God. ¹⁴There is a vanity that takes place on the earth: there are righteous men to whom it happens according to the deeds of the wicked, and there are wicked men to whom it happens according to the deeds of the righteous. I say that this too is vanity. ¹⁵So I commended joy, because there is nothing better for a man under the sun than to eat, to drink, and to be joyful; for this will accompany him in his labor all the days of his life that God has given him under the sun. ¹⁶When I applied my mind to know wisdom and to observe the task that is done on the earth—even though one's eyes see no sleep day or night— ¹⁷then I saw all the work of God, that man is unable to find out the work that is done under the sun . Even though a man labors to seek it out, he will not find it; and even if the wise man claims to know it, he will not be able to find it.

Translation Notes

4/11/2026

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