Parallel Bible results for "ecclesiastes 8"

Ecclesiastes 8

The Bible in Basic English BBE

1 Who is like the wise man? and to whom is the sense of anything clear? A man's wisdom makes his face shining, and his hard face will be changed.

2 I say to you, Keep the king's law, from respect for the oath of God.

3 Be not quick to go from before him. Be not fixed in an evil design, because he does whatever is pleasing to him.

4 The word of a king has authority; and who may say to him, What is this you are doing?

5 Whoever keeps the law will come to no evil: and a wise man's heart has knowledge of time and of decision.

6 For every purpose there is a time and a decision, because the sorrow of man is great in him.

7 No one is certain what is to be, and who is able to say to him when it will be?

8 No man has authority over the wind, to keep the wind; or is ruler over the day of his death. In war no man's time is free, and evil will not keep the sinner safe.

9 All this have I seen, and have given my heart to all the work which is done under the sun: there is a time when man has power over man for his destruction.

10 And then I saw evil men put to rest, taken even from the holy place; and they went about and were praised in the town because of what they had done. This again is to no purpose.

11 Because punishment for an evil work comes not quickly, the minds of the sons of men are fully given to doing evil.

12 Though a sinner does evil a hundred times and his life is long, I am certain that it will be well for those who go in fear of God and are in fear before him.

13 But it will not be well for the evil-doer; he will not make his days long like a shade, because he has no fear before God.

14 There is a thing which is to no purpose done on the earth: that there are good men to whom is given the same punishment as those who are evil, and there are evil men who get the reward of the good. I say that this again is to no purpose.

15 So I gave praise to joy, because there is nothing better for a man to do under the sun than to take meat and drink and be happy; for that will be with him in his work all the days of his life which God gives him under the sun.

16 When I gave my mind to the knowledge of wisdom and to seeing the business which is done on the earth (and there are those whose eyes see not sleep by day or by night),

17 Then I saw all the work of God, and that man may not get knowledge of the work which is done under the sun; because, if a man gives hard work to the search he will not get knowledge, and even if the wise man seems to be coming to the end of his search, still he will be without knowledge.

Good News Translation GNT

1 Only the wise know what things really mean. Wisdom makes them smile and makes their frowns disappear.

2 Do what the king says, and don't make any rash promises to God.

3 The king can do anything he likes, so depart from his presence; don't stay in such a dangerous place.

4 The king acts with authority, and no one can challenge what he does.

5 As long as you obey his commands, you are safe, and a wise person knows how and when to do it.

6 There is a right time and a right way to do everything, but we know so little!

7 None of us knows what is going to happen, and there is no one to tell us.

8 No one can keep from dying or put off the day of death. That is a battle we cannot escape; we cannot cheat our way out.

9 I saw all this when I thought about the things that are done in this world, a world where some people have power and others have to suffer under them.

10 Yes, I have seen the wicked buried and in their graves, but on the way back from the cemetery people praise them in the very city where they did their evil. It is useless.

11 Why do people commit crimes so readily? Because crime is not punished quickly enough.

12 A sinner may commit a hundred crimes and still live. Oh yes, I know what they say: "If you obey God, everything will be all right,

13 but it will not go well for the wicked. Their life is like a shadow and they will die young, because they do not obey God."

14 But this is nonsense. Look at what happens in the world: sometimes the righteous get the punishment of the wicked, and the wicked get the reward of the righteous. I say it is useless.

15 So I am convinced that we should enjoy ourselves, because the only pleasure we have in this life is eating and drinking and enjoying ourselves. We can at least do this as we labor during the life that God has given us in this world.

16 Whenever I tried to become wise and learn what goes on in the world, I realized that you could stay awake night and day

17 and never be able to understand what God is doing. However hard you try, you will never find out. The wise may claim to know, but they don't.