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For he does not know what will happen;
    for who can declare to him what will occur?
There is not a man with mastery over the wind to restrain it,
    nor with power over the day of death.
And no one can discharge a battle,
    nor can wickedness rescue the one possessing it.

All this I saw while applying my heart to every work that is done under the sun, when one man rules over another to the other’s hurt.

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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