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They do not know what the future holds.
    No one can tell them what will happen.
No one has the power to keep the wind from blowing.
    No one has the power to stop his own death.
During war a soldier cannot go home.
    So also, the person who does evil will not get away free.

Justice, Rewards and Punishment

I saw all of this as I studied. I considered all that is done here on earth. And I saw men rule others and hurt them.

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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.

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Footnotes

  1. Ecclesiastes 8:8 Or over the human spirit to retain it, / and so
  2. Ecclesiastes 8:9 Or to their