Ecclesiastes 8:1-14

1Who is really wise? Who knows how to explain things? Wisdom makes one’s face shine, and it changes one’s grim look.

2I ⌞advise⌟ you to obey the king’s commands because of the oath you took in God’s presence.

3Don’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.

4Since a king’s word has such power, no one can ask him what he is doing.

5Whoever obeys his commands will avoid trouble. The mind of a wise person will know the right time and the right way ⌞to act⌟.

6There is a right time and a right way ⌞to act⌟ in every situation. Yet, a terrible human tragedy hangs over people.

7They don’t know what the future will bring. So who can tell them how things will turn out?

8No one has the power to prevent the spirit  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⌟.

9I 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.

10Then 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.

11When a sentence against a crime isn’t carried out quickly, people are encouraged to commit crimes.

12A 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.

13But 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.

14There 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.