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Ecclesiastes 8
GOD’S WORD Translation
Ecclesiastes 8
GOD’S WORD Translation
8 Who is really wise? Who knows how to explain things? Wisdom makes one’s face shine, and it changes one’s grim look.
The Power of Kings Versus the Power of Death
2 I ⌞advise⌟ you to obey the king’s commands because of the oath you took in God’s presence. 3 Don’t be in a hurry to leave the king’s service. Don’t take part in something evil, because he can do whatever he pleases. 4 Since a king’s word has such power, no one can ask him what he is doing. 5 Whoever obeys his commands will avoid trouble. The mind of a wise person will know the right time and the right way ⌞to act⌟. 6 There is a right time and a right way ⌞to act⌟ in every situation. Yet, a terrible human tragedy hangs over people.
7 They don’t know what the future will bring. So who can tell them how things will turn out? 8 No one has the power to prevent the spirit [a] of life from leaving. No one has control over the day of his own death. There is no way to avoid the war ⌞against death⌟. Wickedness will not save wicked people ⌞from dying⌟.
Life Is Unfair
9 I have seen all of this, and I have carefully considered all that is done under the sun whenever one person has authority to hurt others. 10 Then I saw wicked people given an ⌞honorable⌟ burial. They used to go in and out of the holy place. They were praised in the city for doing such things. Even this is pointless.
The Need for Swift Justice
11 When a sentence against a crime isn’t carried out quickly, people are encouraged to commit crimes. 12 A sinner may commit a hundred crimes and yet live a long life. Still, I know with certainty that it will go well for those who fear God, because they fear him. 13 But it will not go well for the wicked. They will not live any longer. Their lives are like shadows, because they don’t fear God.
Enjoy Life
14 There is something being done on earth that is pointless. Righteous people suffer for what the wicked do, and wicked people get what the righteous deserve. I say that even this is pointless.
15 So I recommend the enjoyment ⌞of life⌟. People have nothing better to do under the sun than to eat, drink, and enjoy themselves. This joy will stay with them while they work hard during their brief lives which God has given them under the sun.
16 When I carefully considered how to study wisdom and how to look at the work that is done on earth (even going without sleep day and night), 17 then I saw everything that God has done. No one is able to grasp the work that is done under the sun. However hard a person may search for it, he will not find ⌞its meaning⌟. Even though a wise person claims to know, he is not able to grasp it.
Footnotes
- 8:8 Or “breath.”
Ecclesiastes 8
New International Version
Ecclesiastes 8
New International Version
8 Who is like the wise?
Who knows the explanation of things?
A person’s wisdom brightens their face
and changes its hard appearance.
Obey the King
2 Obey the king’s command, I say, because you took an oath before God. 3 Do not be in a hurry to leave the king’s presence.(A) Do not stand up for a bad cause, for he will do whatever he pleases. 4 Since a king’s word is supreme, who can say to him, “What are you doing?(B)”
5 Whoever obeys his command will come to no harm,
and the wise heart will know the proper time and procedure.
6 For there is a proper time and procedure for every matter,(C)
though a person may be weighed down by misery.
7 Since no one knows the future,
who can tell someone else what is to come?
8 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.
9 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. 10 Then too, I saw the wicked buried(D)—those who used to come and go from the holy place and receive praise[c] in the city where they did this. This too is meaningless.
11 When the sentence for a crime is not quickly carried out, people’s hearts are filled with schemes to do wrong. 12 Although a wicked person who commits a hundred crimes may live a long time, I know that it will go better(E) with those who fear God,(F) who are reverent before him.(G) 13 Yet because the wicked do not fear God,(H) it will not go well with them, and their days(I) will not lengthen like a shadow.
14 There is something else meaningless that occurs on earth: the righteous who get what the wicked deserve, and the wicked who get what the righteous deserve.(J) This too, I say, is meaningless.(K) 15 So I commend the enjoyment of life(L), because there is nothing better for a person under the sun than to eat and drink(M) and be glad.(N) Then joy will accompany them in their toil all the days of the life God has given them under the sun.
16 When I applied my mind to know wisdom(O) and to observe the labor that is done on earth(P)—people getting no sleep day or night— 17 then I saw all that God has done.(Q) No one can comprehend what goes on under the sun. Despite all their efforts to search it out, no one can discover its meaning. Even if the wise claim they know, they cannot really comprehend it.(R)
Footnotes
- Ecclesiastes 8:8 Or over the human spirit to retain it, / and so
- Ecclesiastes 8:9 Or to their
- Ecclesiastes 8:10 Some Hebrew manuscripts and Septuagint (Aquila); most Hebrew manuscripts and are forgotten
GOD’S WORD Translation (GW)
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