1Who is like the wise one? And who knows the interpretation of a matter? A man’s wisdom brightens his face, and the hardness of his face is changed.
2I say: Keep the king’s command, and that because of the oath of God.
3Do not be hasty to leave his presence; do not persist in an evil matter, for he does whatever he pleases.
4For the word of a king is authoritative, and who can say to him, “What are you doing?”
5Whoever keeps a command will know no evil thing, and a wise heart knows the proper time and the just judgment.
6For every matter has its time and judgment, though the trouble of man lies heavy upon him.
7For he does not know what will be; for who can tell him when it will be?
8No man has power over the wind to restrain the wind, nor is there authority over the day of death; there is no discharge in war, and wickedness will not deliver those who possess it.
9All this I saw as I applied my heart to every deed that is done under the sun, at a time when one man had power over another to his harm.
10And then I saw the wicked buried; they used to come and go from the holy place, and they were forgotten in the city where they had done so. This too is vanity.
11Because sentence against an evil deed is not carried out quickly, therefore the heart of the sons of man is full within them to do evil.
12Though a sinner does evil a hundred times and prolongs his days, yet I also know that it will go well with those who fear God, who fear before him.
13But it will not go well with the wicked, and he will not prolong his days like a shadow, because he does not fear before God.
14There is a vanity that is done upon the earth: that there are righteous people to whom it happens according to the deeds of the wicked, and there are wicked people to whom it happens according to the deeds of the righteous. I said that this too is vanity.
15So I commended enjoyment, because there is nothing better for a person under the sun than to eat and drink and be glad; this will accompany him in his toil through the days of his life that God has given him under the sun.
16When I applied my heart to know wisdom and to see the task that is done upon the earth—for even day and night one’s eyes see no sleep—
17then I saw all the work of God, that a man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun. Though a man labors to seek it out, he will not find it; and even if the wise one claims to know, he cannot find it.
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