1 W ho is like the wise man? And who understands the meaning of anything? A man’s wisdom makes his face shine. The hard look on his face is changed. Obey the King

¶ 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.

2 I say, “Obey the words of the king because of the promise you made to God.

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

3 D o not be in a hurry to leave him. Do not join in wrong-doing, for he will do whatever he pleases.”

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

4 S ince the king’s word is powerful, who will say to him, “What are you doing?”

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

5 H e who obeys the king’s law will have no trouble, for a wise heart knows the right time and way.

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

6 F or there is a right time and way for everything, even if a man’s trouble is heavy upon him.

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

7 I f no one knows what will happen, who can tell him when it will happen?

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

8 N o man has the right and power to hold back the wind with the wind, or power over the day of his death. No man is free to leave in the time of war. And sin will not take the sinner out of trouble.

There 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.

9 A ll this I have seen while thinking about every work that has been done under the sun. There is a time when one man has power over another man and makes him suffer. Death Comes to Everyone

¶ 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.

10 T hen I saw the sinful buried, who used to go in and out of the holy place. They are soon forgotten in the city where they did this. This also is for nothing.

Then 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.

11 B ecause a sinful act is not punished in a hurry, so the hearts of the sons of men are given completely over to sin.

Because 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.

12 E ven though a sinner does sinful things a hundred times and lives a long time, still I know that it will be well for those who fear God, and let others know they fear God.

Though 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;

13 B ut it will not go well for the sinful man. His days will not be long like a shadow, because he does not fear God.

but 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.

14 T here is something that is of no use on the earth: There are right and good men who have the same thing happen to them that happens to those who do sinful things. And there are sinful men who have the same thing happen to them that happens to those who are right and good. I say this also is for nothing.

¶ 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.

15 S o I say a man should enjoy himself. For there is nothing good for a man under the sun except to eat and drink and be happy. For this will be with him in his work through the days of his life which God has given him under the sun.

Therefore 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.

16 I gave my heart to know wisdom and to see the work which has been done on the earth, not sleeping day or night.

Therefore 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).

17 A nd I saw all the work of God and knew that man cannot even think of all that is done under the sun. Even if man tries hard to find out, he will not be able to. Even if a wise man says he knows, he does not.

And 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.