| New International Version | Holman Christian Standard Bible |
| 1Who is like the wise? Who knows the explanation of things? A person's wisdom brightens their face and changes its hard appearance. | 1Who is like the wise person, and who knows the interpretation of a matter? A man's wisdom brightens his face, and the sternness of his face is changed. |
| 2Obey the king's command, I say, because you took an oath before God. | 2Keep the king's command because of your oath made before God. |
| 3Do not be in a hurry to leave the king's presence. Do not stand up for a bad cause, for he will do whatever he pleases. | 3Do not be in a hurry; leave his presence, and don't persist in a bad cause, since he will do whatever he wants. |
| 4Since a king's word is supreme, who can say to him, "What are you doing?" | 4For the king's word is authoritative, and who can say to him, "What are you doing?" |
| 5Whoever obeys his command will come to no harm, and the wise heart will know the proper time and procedure. | 5The one who keeps a command will not experience anything harmful, and a wise heart knows the right time and procedure. |
| 6For there is a proper time and procedure for every matter, though a person may be weighed down by misery. | 6For every activity there is a right time and procedure, even though man's troubles are heavy on him. |
| 7Since no one knows the future, who can tell someone else what is to come? | 7Yet no one knows what will happen because who can tell him what will happen? |
| 8As no one has power over the wind to contain it, so no one has power over the time of their death. As no one is discharged in time of war, so wickedness will not release those who practice it. | 8No one has authority over the wind to restrain it, and there is no authority over the day of death; there is no furlough in battle, and wickedness will not allow those who practice it to escape. |
| 9All this I saw, as I applied my mind to everything done under the sun. There is a time when a man lords it over others to his own hurt. | 9All this I have seen, applying my mind to all the work that is done under the sun, at a time when one man has authority over another to his harm. |
| 10Then too, I saw the wicked buried--those who used to come and go from the holy place and receive praise in the city where they did this. This too is meaningless. | 10In such circumstances, I saw the wicked buried. They came and went from the holy place, and they were praised in the city where they did so. This too is futile. |
| 11When the sentence for a crime is not quickly carried out, people's hearts are filled with schemes to do wrong. | 11Because the sentence against a criminal act is not carried out quickly, the heart of people is filled with the desire to commit crime. |
| 12Although a wicked person who commits a hundred crimes may live a long time, I know that it will go better with those who fear God, who are reverent before him. | 12Although a sinner commits crime a hundred times and prolongs his life, yet I also know that it will go well with God-fearing people, for they are reverent before Him. |
| 13Yet because the wicked do not fear God, it will not go well with them, and their days will not lengthen like a shadow. | 13However, it will not go well with the wicked, and they will not lengthen their days like a shadow, for they are not reverent before God. |
| 14There is something else meaningless that occurs on earth: the righteous who get what the wicked deserve, and the wicked who get what the righteous deserve. This too, I say, is meaningless. | 14There is a futility that is done on the earth: there are righteous people who get what the actions of the wicked deserve, and there are wicked people who get what the actions of the righteous deserve. I say that this too is futile. |
| 15So I commend the enjoyment of life, because there is nothing better for a person under the sun than to eat and drink and be glad. Then joy will accompany them in their toil all the days of the life God has given them under the sun. | 15So I commended enjoyment because there is nothing better for man under the sun than to eat, drink, and enjoy himself, for this will accompany him in his labor during the days of his life that God gives him under the sun. |
| 16When I applied my mind to know wisdom and to observe the labor that is done on earth--people getting no sleep day or night-- | 16When I applied my mind to know wisdom and to observe the activity that is done on the earth (even though one's eyes do not close in sleep day or night), |
| 17then I saw all that God has done. No one can comprehend what goes on under the sun. Despite all their efforts to search it out, no one can discover its meaning. Even if the wise claim they know, they cannot really comprehend it. | 17I observed all the work of God and concluded that man is unable to discover the work that is done under the sun. Even though a man labors hard to explore it, he cannot find it; even if the wise man claims to know it, he is unable to discover it. |
| New International Version (NIV) Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. | Holman Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. |
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