- 1
- ¶ WHO is like the wise man?
And who knows the interpretation of a thing? A man’s wisdom makes his face to shine, but he who is impudent shall be hated.
- 2
- Keep the king’s command, and in regard of the oath of God be not hasty.
- 3
- Go from his presence;
and do not stand firm in an evil matter; for he does whatsoever pleases him.
- 4
- In what manner the king speaks is lawful;
and who can say to him, What are you doing?
- 5
- He who keeps a command shall know no evil thing;
and a wise man’s heart discerns both time and judgment.
- 6
- ¶ Because to every purpose there is time and judgment, because the misery of man is great upon him.
- 7
- For there is no one who knows that which has been;
and who can tell him what will be after him?
- 8
- There is no man who has power over the wind to withhold the wind;
neither has he power over the day of death; and there is no escape from duty in the day of battle; neither shall wickedness deliver those who are given to it.
- 9
- ¶ All this have I seen, and applied my heart to every work that is done under the sun;
there is a time wherein one man rules over another to hurt him.
- 10
- And so I saw the wicked buried, who had come and gone from the holy place, and they were forgotten in the city where they had done such evil things;
this also is vanity.
- 11
- Because vengeance against the evil-doers is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.
- 12
- He who sins does evil a hundred times, and his days are prolonged, yet surely I know that it shall be well with the worshippers of the LORD, that they may fear before him;
- 13
- But it shall not be well with the wicked, neither shall he prolong his days, which are like a shadow;
because he does not fear before God.
- 14
- ¶ There is a vanity which is done upon the earth;
there are just men, to whom it happens according to the work of the wicked; and there are wicked men, to whom it happens according to the deeds of the righteous; I said that this also is vanity.
- 15
- Then I commended mirth, because there is nothing better for a man under the sun than to eat and to drink and to be merry;
for that shall accompany him in his labor all the days of his life, which God gives him under the sun.
- 16
- Therefore I applied my heart to know wisdom, and to see the business which is done upon the earth;
for there are those whose eyes see no sleep either day or night.
- 17
- Then I saw all the work of God, that man cannot find out the work which is done under the sun;
all that a man may labor to seek out, yet he will not find it; and whosoever says that he is wise yet will not be able to find it.
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