CHAPTER 8
Who
is like the wise man?
Who
knows
the interpretation
of a matter?
A man’s
wisdom
brightens
his face,
and the sternness
of his face
is changed.
Do not
hasten
to leave
his presence,
and do not
persist
in a bad
cause,
for
he will do
whatever
he wants.
Whoever keeps
his command
will come to
no
harm,
and a wise
heart
knows
the right time
and procedure.
For
there is
a right time
and procedure
to every
purpose,
though
a man’s
misery
weighs heavily
upon him.
As no
man
has power
over the wind
to contain
it,
so there is no
authority
over the day
of death.
As no one
can be discharged
in wartime,
so wickedness
will not
release
those who practice it.
All
this
I have seen,
applying
my mind
to every
deed
that
is done
under
the sun;
there is a time
when
one man
lords it
over another
to his own detriment.
Then too,
I saw
the burial
of the wicked
who had come
and gone
from the holy
place
and were praised
in the city
where
they had done
so.
This
too
is futile.
When
the sentence
for a crime
is not
speedily
executed,
the hearts
of men
become fully set
on doing
evil.
Although
a sinner
does
evil
a hundred times
and still lives long,
yet
I
also
know
that
it will go
well
with those who
fear
God,
who are reverent
in His presence.
Yet because
the wicked do not
fear
God,
it will not
go
well
with them,
and their days
will not
lengthen
like a shadow.
There is
a futility
that
is done
on
the earth:
There are
righteous men
who
get
what the actions
of the wicked deserve,
and there are
wicked men
who
get
what the actions
of the righteous deserve.
I say
that this
too
is futile.
So I
commended
the enjoyment of life,
because
there is nothing
better
for a man
under
the sun
than
to eat
and drink
and be merry.
For this joy
will accompany
him in his labor
during the days
of his life
that
God
gives
him under
the sun.
When
I applied
my mind
to know
wisdom
and to observe
the activity
that
one does
on
the earth—
though
his eyes
do not
see
sleep
day
or night—
I saw
every
work
of God,
and that
a man
is unable
to comprehend
the work
that
is done
under
the sun.
Despite
his
efforts
to search it out,
he cannot
find its meaning;
even
if
the wise
man claims
to know,
he is unable
to comprehend.