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Keep the King's Command

² I say:^[a] Keep the king's command, because of ^(c)God's oath to him.^{[b] 3} Be not hasty to ^(d)go from his presence. Do not take your stand in an evil cause, for he does whatever he pleases. ⁴ For the word of the king is supreme, and ^(e)who may say to him, "What are you doing?" ⁵ Whoever keeps a command will know no evil thing, and the wise heart will know the proper time and the just way.^{[c] 6} For there is a time and a way ^(f)for everything, although man's trouble^[d] lies heavy on him. ⁷ For he ^(g)does not know what is to be, for ^(h)who can tell him how it will be? ⁸ No man has power to ⁽ⁱ⁾retain the spirit, ^(j)or power over the day of death. There is no ^(k)discharge from war, nor will wickedness deliver those who are given to it. ^9 (l)All this I observed while applying my heart to all that is done under the sun, when man had power over man to his hurt.

Those Who Fear God Will Do Well

¹⁰ Then I saw the wicked buried. They used to go in and out of ^(m)the holy place and were ⁽ⁿ⁾praised^[e] in the city where they had done such things. This also is vanity.^{[f] 11} Because ^(o)the sentence against an evil deed is not executed speedily, ^(p)the heart of the children of man is fully set to do evil. ¹² Though a sinner does evil a hundred times and ^(q)prolongs his life, yet I know that ^(r)it will be well with ^(s)those who fear God, because they fear before him. ¹³ But it will ^(t)not be well with the wicked, neither will he prolong his days like ^(u)a shadow, because he does not fear before God.

Man Cannot Know God's Ways

¹⁴ There is a vanity that takes place on earth, that there are righteous people ^(v)to whom it happens according to the deeds of the wicked, and there are wicked people ^(w)to whom it happens according to the deeds of the righteous. I said that this also is vanity. ¹⁵ And I commend joy, for man ^(x)has nothing better under the sun but to ^(y)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.

¹⁶ When I applied my heart to know wisdom, and to see ^(z)the business that is done on earth, how neither ^(aa)day nor night do one's eyes see sleep, ¹⁷ then I saw all the work of God, that ^(ab)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, ^(ac)he cannot find it out.