Ecclesiastes 8 NIV ISV Parallel

◄ Ecclesiastes 8 ►

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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 really wise? Who knows how to interpret this saying: "A person's wisdom improves his appearance, softening a harsh countenance."

2Obey the king's command, I say, because you took an oath before God.

2I advise doing what the king says, especially regarding an oath to 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.

3Don't be in a hurry to leave him, and don't persist in evil, for he does whatever he pleases.

4Since a king's word is supreme, who can say to him, "What are you doing?"

4Since a king's command is powerful, who is able to challenge him, asking, "What are you doing?"

5Whoever obeys his command will come to no harm, and the wise heart will know the proper time and procedure.

5Whoever obeys his commands will not experience harm, and the wise in heart will discern both the appropriate time and response.

6For there is a proper time and procedure for every matter, though a person may be weighed down by misery.

6Indeed, there is an appropriate time and a response for every circumstance, since human misery weighs heavily upon him.

7Since no one knows the future, who can tell someone else what is to come?

7For he has absolutely no knowledge what will happen, since who can declare to him when it will come about?

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.

8Just as no human being has control over the wind to restrain it, so also no human being has control over the day of his death. Just as no one is discharged during war, so wickedness will not release those who practice it.

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.

9I observed all this, and carefully considered everything that is undertaken on earth, especially the time when someone dominates another to his detriment.

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.

10So I watched the wicked being entombed. They used to come in and out of the Holy Place, but now they are forgotten in the city, where they used to work. This, too, is pointless.

11When the sentence for a crime is not quickly carried out, people's hearts are filled with schemes to do wrong.

11Whenever a sentence for a crime is not carried out swiftly, the human mind becomes determined to commit evil.

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.

12Even though a sinner does what is wrong a hundred times and still survives, nevertheless I also know that things will go well for those who fear God, who fear in his presence.

13Yet because the wicked do not fear God, it will not go well with them, and their days will not lengthen like a shadow.

13But things will not go well for the wicked person: he will not lengthen his life like a shadow, since he has no fear 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.

14Here is a pointless thing that happens on earth: A righteous man receives what happens to the wicked, and a wicked man receives what happens to the righteous. I concluded that this, too, is pointless.

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 then I recommended enjoyment of life, because it is better on earth for a man to eat, drink, and be happy, since this will stay with him throughout his struggle all the days of his life, which God grants him on earth.

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 dedicated myself to experience wisdom and to observe what is undertaken on earth—even going without sleep day and 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 saw all of it as the activity of God. Frankly, a human being cannot understand what happens on earth, because however hard a man works to discover it, he will not find out. Despite what he thinks he knows, he will not be able to figure it out.

New International Version (NIV)

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