Ecclesiastes 8
Chapter 8
1 How wonderful to be wise,
to analyze and interpret things.
Wisdom lights up a person’s face,
softening its harshness.
Obedience to the King
2 Obey the king since you vowed to God that you would.3 Don’t try to avoid doing your duty, and don’t stand with those who plot evil, for the king can do whatever he wants.4 His command is backed by great power. No one can resist or question it.5 Those who obey him will not be punished. Those who are wise will find a time and a way to do what is right,
6 for there is a time and a way for everything, even when a person is in trouble.
7 Indeed, how can people avoid what they don’t know is going to happen?
8 None of us can hold back our spirit from departing. None of us has the power to prevent the day of our death. There is no escaping that obligation, that dark battle. And in the face of death, wickedness will certainly not rescue the wicked.
The Wicked and the Righteous
9 I have thought deeply about all that goes on here under the sun, where people have the power to hurt each other.10 I have seen wicked people buried with honor. Yet they were the very ones who frequented the Temple and are now praisedt in the same city where they committed their crimes! This, too, is meaningless.11 When a crime is not punished quickly, people feel it is safe to do wrong.12 But even though a person sins a hundred times and still lives a long time, I know that those who fear God will be better off.
13 The wicked will not prosper, for they do not fear God. Their days will never grow long like the evening shadows.
14 And this is not all that is meaningless in our world. In this life, good people are often treated as though they were wicked, and wicked people are often treated as though they were good. This is so meaningless!
15 So I recommend having fun, because there is nothing better for people in this world than to eat, drink, and enjoy life. That way they will experience some happiness along with all the hard work God gives them under the sun.
16 In my search for wisdom and in my observation of people’s burdens here on earth, I discovered that there is ceaseless activity, day and night.
17 I realized that no one can discover everything God is doing under the sun. Not even the wisest people discover everything, no matter what they claim.
ECCLESIASTES 8
1 Who is smart enough
to explain everything?
Wisdom makes you cheerful
and gives you a smile.Obey the King
2 If you promised God that you would be loyal to the king, I advise you to keep that promise. 3 Don't quickly oppose the king or argue when he has already made up his mind. 4 The king's word is law. No one can ask him, “Why are you doing this?” 5 If you obey the king, you will stay out of trouble. So be wise and learn what to do and when to do it. 6 Life is hard, but there is a time and a place for everything, 7 though no one can tell the future. 8 We cannot control the windt or determine the day of our death. There is no escape in time of war, and no one can hide behind evil.
9 I noticed all this and thought seriously about what goes on in the world. Why does one person have the power to hurt another?Who Can Understand //the Ways of God?
10 I saw the wicked buried with honor, but God's people had to leave the holy city and were forgotten.t None of this makes sense. 11 When we see criminals commit crime after crime without being punished, it makes us want to start a life of crime.
12 They commit hundreds of crimes and live a long time, in spite of the saying:
Everyone who lives right
and respects God
will prosper,
13 but no one who sins
and rejects God
will prosper or live very long.
14 There is something else that doesn't make sense to me. Good citizens are treated as criminals, while criminals are honored as though they were good citizens.
15 So I think we should get as much out of life as we possibly can. There is nothing better than to enjoy our food and drink and have a good time. Then we can make it through this troublesome life that God has given us here on earth.
16 Day and night I went without sleep, trying to understand what goes on in this world. 17 I saw everything God does, and I realized no one can really understand what happens. We may be very wise, but no matter how much we try or how much we claim to know, we cannot understand it all.
