Obey the King
1 Who is like the wise man? And who knows the interpretation of a thing? A man’s wisdom makes his face shine, and the harshness of his face is changed.
2 Keep the king’s command because of your oath to God. 3 Do not be hasty to leave his presence. Do not stand for an evil cause, for the king does whatever he pleases, 4 and the king’s word is supreme. Who can say to him, “What are you doing?”
5 Whoever keeps his commandment shall not come to harm, and his wise heart will know the right time and way to proceed. 6 For there is a time and procedure for every purpose, although a man’s miseries weigh heavily upon him. 7 For he does not know that which will be, for who can tell him how it will be?
8 There is no man who has power over the spirit to contain the spirit, nor does he have power over the day of death. There is no escaping that battle, nor shall wickedness deliver those who practice it. 9 All this I have seen and applied my mind to every work that is done under the sun. There is a time in which one man has power over another to his own harm.
Fear God
10 So I saw the wicked buried, those who used to come and go where holy people went, and they were no longer remembered in the city where they did this. This also is futile.
11 When sentencing for crime is not executed speedily, the hearts of men are filled with evil schemes.
12 Though a sinner commits crimes a hundred times and lives long, yet surely I know that it will be better with those who fear God, who are reverent before him. 13 But it shall not be well with the wicked, nor shall he lengthen their days like a shadow, because they are not reverent before God.
God’s Ways are Mysterious
14 There is another senseless thing that happens on earth: the righteous get what the wicked deserve, and the wicked are rewarded for the work righteous people have done. This is also meaningless.
15 Then I commended pleasure, because a man has no better thing under the sun than to eat, drink and be joyful, for that will accompany him in his labor all the days of his life, which God has given him under the sun.
16 When I applied my heart to know wisdom and to see the labor that is done on the earth (even though the eyes of men see no sleep by day or by night), 17 then I saw all the work of God and that man will never discover all the work that is done under the sun, because however much a man labors to seek it out, yet he will never find it. Yes even though a wise man thinks he can comprehend it, he will not be able to find it.