| English Standard Version | Berean Study Bible |
| 1Who is like the wise? And who knows the interpretation of a thing? A man’s wisdom makes his face shine, and the hardness of his face is changed. | 1Who 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. |
| 2I say: Keep the king’s command, because of God’s oath to him. | 2Keep the king’s command, I say, because of your oath before God. |
| 3Be not hasty to go from his presence. Do not take your stand in an evil cause, for he does whatever he pleases. | 3Do not hasten to leave his presence, and do not persist in a bad cause, for he will do whatever he pleases. |
| 4For the word of the king is supreme, and who may say to him, “What are you doing?” | 4For the king’s word is supreme, and who can say to him, “What are you doing?” |
| 5Whoever keeps a command will know no evil thing, and the wise heart will know the proper time and the just way. | 5Whoever keeps his command will come to no harm, and a wise heart knows the right time and procedure. |
| 6For there is a time and a way for everything, although man’s trouble lies heavy on him. | 6For there is a right time and procedure to every purpose, though a man’s misery weighs heavily upon him. |
| 7For he does not know what is to be, for who can tell him how it will be? | 7Since no one knows what will happen, who can tell him what is to come? |
| 8No man has power to retain the spirit, or power over the day of death. There is no discharge from war, nor will wickedness deliver those who are given to it. | 8As no man has power over the wind to contain it, so no one has authority over his day of death. As no one can be discharged in wartime, so wickedness will not release those who practice it. |
| 9All this I observed while applying my heart to all that is done under the sun, when man had power over man to his hurt. | 9All 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. |
| 10Then I saw the wicked buried. They used to go in and out of the holy place and were praised in the city where they had done such things. This also is vanity. | 10Then too, I saw the burial of the wicked who used to go in and out of the holy place, and they were praised in the city where they had done so. This too is futile. |
| 11Because the sentence against an evil deed is not executed speedily, the heart of the children of man is fully set to do evil. | 11When the sentence for a crime is not speedily executed, the hearts of men become fully set on doing evil. |
| 12Though a sinner does evil a hundred times and prolongs his life, yet I know that it will be well with those who fear God, because they fear before him. | 12Although 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. |
| 13But it will not be well with the wicked, neither will he prolong his days like a shadow, because he does not fear before God. | 13Yet because the wicked do not fear God, it will not go well with them, and their days will not lengthen like a shadow. |
| 14There is a vanity that takes place on 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 also is vanity. | 14There 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. |
| 15And I commend joy, for man has nothing better under the sun but to eat and drink and be joyful, for this will go with him in his toil through the days of his life that God has given him under the sun. | 15So 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. |
| 16When I applied my heart to know wisdom, and to see the business that is done on earth, how neither day nor night do one’s eyes see sleep, | 16When I applied my mind to know wisdom and to observe the task that one performs on the earth—though his eyes do not see sleep in the day or even in the night— |
| 17then I saw all the work of God, that man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun. However much man may toil in seeking, he will not find it out. Even though a wise man claims to know, he cannot find it out. | 17I 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. |
| ESV Text Edition: 2016. The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®) copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. The ESV® text has been reproduced in cooperation with and by permission of Good News Publishers. Unauthorized reproduction of this publication is prohibited. All rights reserved. | The Berean Bible (Berean Study Bible (BSB) © 2016, 2018 by Bible Hub and Berean.Bible. Used by Permission. All rights Reserved. |
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