1 ¶ Who is as the wise man? and who is as he who knows the interpretation of all things? The wisdom of this man shall make his face to shine, and the coarseness of his face shall be changed.

Who as the wise? and who knoweth the interpretation of a thing? The wisdom of man causeth his face to shine, and the hardness of his face is changed.

2 I counsel thee to keep the king’s commandment and the word of the covenant that thou hast made with God.

I pray thee, the commandment of a king keep, even for the sake of the oath of God.

3 D o not be hasty to rebel against him; do not persist in any evil thing, for he shall do whatsoever pleases him;

Be not troubled at his presence, thou mayest go, stand not in an evil thing, for all that he pleaseth he doth.

4 b ecause the word of the king is his power and who may say unto him, What doest thou?

Where the word of a king power, and who saith to him, `What dost thou?'

5 W hosoever keeps the commandment shall experience no evil thing, and a wise man’s heart discerns both time and judgment.

Whoso is keeping a command knoweth no evil thing, and time and judgment the heart of the wise knoweth.

6 ¶ Because for every will there is time and judgment, because the evil of man is great upon him,

For to every delight there is a time and a judgment, for the misfortune of man is great upon him.

7 f or he does not know that which shall be; nor when it shall be. Who will teach it to him?

For he knoweth not that which shall be, for when it shall be who declareth to him?

8 T here is no man that has power over the spirit to retain the spirit; neither does he have power over the day of death, and weapons are of no use in that war; neither shall wickedness deliver those that are given to it.

There is no man ruling over the spirit to restrain the spirit, and there is no authority over the day of death, and there is no discharge in battle, and wickedness delivereth not its possessors.

9 ¶ All this I have seen and applied my heart unto every work that is done under the sun: the time in which one man rules over another to his own hurt.

All this I have seen so as to give my heart to every work that hath been done under the sun; a time that man hath ruled over man to his own evil.

10 T hen I also saw that the wicked who were buried came into remembrance more than those who had frequented the holy place, and these were forgotten in the city where they had worked uprightly. This also is vanity.

And so I have seen the wicked buried, and they went in, even from the Holy Place they go, and they are forgotten in the city whether they had so done. This also vanity.

11 B ecause the sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.

Because sentence hath not been done an evil work speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of man is full within them to do evil.

12 T hough a sinner does evil one hundred times and his judgment is prolonged, yet surely I know that it shall be well with those that fear God, who fear before his presence;

Though a sinner is doing evil a hundred, and prolonging for it, surely also I know that there is good to those fearing God, who fear before Him.

13 b ut it shall never be well with the wicked, neither shall his days be prolonged, which are as a shadow, because he did not fear before the presence of God.

And good is not to the wicked, and he doth not prolong days as a shadow, because he is not fearing before God.

14 ¶ There is another vanity which is done upon the earth: that there are just men, who are recompensed as if they had done according to the work of the wicked; again, there are wicked men, who are recompensed as if they had done according to the work of the righteous; I say that this also is vanity.

There is a vanity that hath been done upon the earth, that there are righteous ones unto whom it is coming according to the work of the wicked, and there are wicked ones unto whom it is coming according to the work of the righteous. I have said that this also vanity.

15 T herefore I commended joy because a man has no better thing under the sun than to eat and to drink and to be merry, for that shall abide with him of his labour the days of his life, which God gives him under the sun.

And I have praised mirth because there is no good to man under the sun except to eat and to drink, and to rejoice, and it remaineth with him of his labour the days of his life that God hath given to him under the sun.

16 T herefore I applied mine heart to know wisdom and to see the business that is done upon the earth (for also there is he that neither day nor night sees sleep with his eyes).

When I gave my heart to know wisdom and to see the business that hath been done on the earth, (for there is also a spectator in whose eyes sleep is not by day and by night),

17 A nd I have seen regarding all the works of God that man cannot attain to understand the work that is being done under the sun, because though a man labours to seek it out, yet he shall not find it; even though the wise man says that he knows it, yet he shall not be able to attain it.

then I considered all the work of God, that man is not able to find out the work that hath been done under the sun, because though man labour to seek, yet he doth not find; and even though the wise man speak of knowing he is not able to find.