Parallel Bible results for "ecclesiastes 8"

Ecclesiastes 8

The Message Bible MSG

1 here's nothing better than being wise, Knowing how to interpret the meaning of life. Wisdom puts light in the eyes, And gives gentleness to words and manners.

2 Do what your king commands; you gave a sacred oath of obedience.

3 Don't worryingly second-guess your orders or try to back out when the task is unpleasant. You're serving his pleasure, not yours.

4 The king has the last word. Who dares say to him, "What are you doing?"

5 Carrying out orders won't hurt you a bit; the wise person obeys promptly and accurately.

6 Yes, there's a right time and way for everything, even though, unfortunately, we miss it for the most part.

7 It's true that no one knows what's going to happen, or when. Who's around to tell us?

8 No one can control the wind or lock it in a box. No one has any say-so regarding the day of death. No one can stop a battle in its tracks. No one who does evil can be saved by evil.

9 All this I observed as I tried my best to understand all that's going on in this world. As long as men and women have the power to hurt each other, this is the way it is.

10 One time I saw wicked men given a solemn burial in holy ground. When the people returned to the city, they delivered flowery eulogies - and in the very place where wicked acts were done by those very men! More smoke. Indeed.

11 ecause the sentence against evil deeds is so long in coming, people in general think they can get by with murder.

12 Even though a person sins and gets by with it hundreds of times throughout a long life, I'm still convinced that the good life is reserved for the person who fears God, who lives reverently in his presence,

13 and that the evil person will not experience a "good" life. No matter how many days he lives, they'll all be as flat and colorless as a shadow - because he doesn't fear God.

14 Here's something that happens all the time and makes no sense at all: Good people get what's coming to the wicked, and bad people get what's coming to the good. I tell you, this makes no sense. It's smoke.

15 So, I'm all for just going ahead and having a good time - the best possible. The only earthly good men and women can look forward to is to eat and drink well and have a good time - compensation for the struggle for survival these few years God gives us on earth.

16 When I determined to load up on wisdom and examine everything taking place on earth, I realized that if you keep your eyes open day and night without even blinking,

17 you'll still never figure out the meaning of what God is doing on this earth. Search as hard as you like, you're not going to make sense of it. No matter how smart you are, you won't get to the bottom of it.

English Standard Version ESV

1 Who is like the wise? And who knows the interpretation of a thing? A man's wisdom makes his face shine, and the hardness of his face is changed.

2 I say: Keep the king's command, because of God's oath to him.

3 Be not hasty to 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 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.

6 For there is a time and a way for everything, although man's trouble lies heavy on him.

7 For he does not know what is to be, for who can tell him how it will be?

8 No man has power to retain the spirit, or power over the day of death. There is no discharge from war, nor will wickedness deliver those who are given to it.

9 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.

10 Then I saw the wicked buried. They used to go in and out of the holy place and were praised in the city where they had done such things. This also is vanity.

11 Because the sentence against an evil deed is not executed speedily, the heart of the children of man is fully set to do evil.

12 Though a sinner does evil a hundred times and prolongs his life, yet I know that it will be well with those who fear God, because they fear before him.

13 But it will not be well with the wicked, neither will he prolong his days like a shadow, because he does not fear before God.

14 There is a vanity that takes place on earth, that there are righteous people to whom it happens according to the deeds of the wicked, and there are wicked people 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 has no good thing under the sun but to 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 the business that is done on earth, how neither day nor night do one's eyes see sleep,

17 then I saw all the work of God, that 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, he cannot find it out.