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Wisdom, Authorities, and Inequities

¹ Who is like the wise person, and who knows the interpretation of a matter? A person’s wisdom brightens his face, and the sternness of his face is changed.^(C1)

² Keep^(F1) the king’s command because of your oath made before God.^{(C1) 3} Do not be in a hurry; leave his presence,^(C1) and don’t persist in a bad cause, since he will do whatever he wants. ⁴ For the king’s word is authoritative, and who can say to him, “What are you doing?” ^{(C1) 5} The one who keeps a command will not experience anything harmful,^(C1) and a wise heart knows the right time and procedure. ⁶ For every activity there is a right time and procedure,^(C1) even though a person’s troubles are heavy on him. ⁷ Yet no one knows what will happen^(C1) because who can tell him what will happen? ⁸ No one has authority over the wind^(F1) to restrain it,^(C1) and there is no authority over the day of death;^(C2) no one is discharged during battle, and wickedness will not allow those who practice it to escape. ⁹ All this I have seen, applying my mind to all the work that is done under the sun, at a time when one person has authority over another to his harm.

¹⁰ In such circumstances, I saw the wicked buried. They came and went from the holy place,^(C1) and they were praised^(F1) in the city where they did those things. This too is futile. ¹¹ Because the sentence against an evil act is not carried out quickly,^(C1) the heart of people is filled with the desire to commit evil. ¹² Although a sinner does evil a hundred times and prolongs his life,^(C1) I also know that it will go well with God-fearing people,^(C2) for they are reverent before him. ¹³ However, it will not go well with the wicked,^(C1) and they will not lengthen their days like a shadow,^(C2) for they are not reverent before God.

¹⁴ There is a futility that is done on the earth: there are righteous people who get what the actions of the wicked deserve,^(C1) and there are wicked people who get what the actions of the righteous deserve.^(C2) I say that this too is futile. ¹⁵ So I commended enjoyment because there is nothing better for a person under the sun than to eat, drink, and enjoy himself,^(C1) for this will accompany him in his labor during the days of his life that God gives him under the sun.

¹⁶ When I applied my mind to know wisdom^(C1) and to observe the activity that is done on the earth (even though one’s eyes do not close in sleep day or night), ¹⁷ I observed all the work of God and concluded that a person is unable to discover the work that is done under the sun. Even though a person labors hard to explore it, he cannot find it;^(C1) even if a wise person claims to know it, he is unable to discover it.