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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1" /><title>Ecclesiastes 8 ESV</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/chapnew2.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /></head><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/ecclesiastes/8.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="../topmenuchap/ecclesiastes/8-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="http://biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="../">ESV</a> > Ecclesiastes 8</div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../ecclesiastes/7.htm" title="Ecclesiastes 7">◄</a> Ecclesiastes 8 <a href="../ecclesiastes/9.htm" title="Ecclesiastes 9">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading"><table width="100%"><tr><td width="99%" valign="top">English Standard Version</td><td width="1%" valign="top"><a href="/p/esv/nas/ecclesiastes/8.shtml" style="color:#001320" title="Parallel Chapters"> Par ▾ </a></tr></table></div></a><div class="chap"><p class="heading">Keep the King’s Command</p><span class="block-indent"><p class="line-group"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/ecclesiastes/8-1.htm"><b>1</b></a></span><span class="ln-group">Who is like the wise?</span><br /><span class="indent">And who knows the interpretation of a thing?</span><br /><span class="ln-group">A man’s wisdom makes his face shine,</span><br /><span class="indent">and the hardness of his face is changed.</span></p> <p class="regular"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/ecclesiastes/8-2.htm"><b>2</b></a></span>I say:<span class="footnote"><sup><a href="#footnotes" title="Hebrew lacks say">a</a></sup></span> Keep the king’s command, because of God’s oath to him.<span class="footnote"><sup><a href="#footnotes" title="Or because of your oath to God">b</a></sup></span> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/ecclesiastes/8-3.htm"><b>3</b></a></span>Be not hasty to go from his presence. Do not take your stand in an evil cause, for he does whatever he pleases. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/ecclesiastes/8-4.htm"><b>4</b></a></span>For the word of the king is supreme, and who may say to him, “What are you doing?” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/ecclesiastes/8-5.htm"><b>5</b></a></span>Whoever keeps a command will know no evil thing, and the wise heart will know the proper time and the just way.<span class="footnote"><sup><a href="#footnotes" title="Or and judgment">c</a></sup></span> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/ecclesiastes/8-6.htm"><b>6</b></a></span>For there is a time and a way for everything, although man’s trouble<span class="footnote"><sup><a href="#footnotes" title="Or evil">d</a></sup></span> lies heavy on him. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/ecclesiastes/8-7.htm"><b>7</b></a></span>For he does not know what is to be, for who can tell him how it will be? <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/ecclesiastes/8-8.htm"><b>8</b></a></span>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. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/ecclesiastes/8-9.htm"><b>9</b></a></span>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.</p> <p class="heading">Those Who Fear God Will Do Well</p><p class="regular"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/ecclesiastes/8-10.htm"><b>10</b></a></span>Then I saw the wicked buried. They used to go in and out of the holy place and were praised<span class="footnote"><sup><a href="#footnotes" title="Some Hebrew manuscripts, Septuagint, Vulgate; most Hebrew manuscripts forgotten">e</a></sup></span> in the city where they had done such things. This also is vanity.<span class="footnote"><sup><a href="#footnotes" title="The Hebrew term hebel can refer to a vapor or mere breath; also twice in verse 14 (see note on 1:2)">f</a></sup></span> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/ecclesiastes/8-11.htm"><b>11</b></a></span>Because the sentence against an evil deed is not executed speedily, the heart of the children of man is fully set to do evil. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/ecclesiastes/8-12.htm"><b>12</b></a></span>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. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/ecclesiastes/8-13.htm"><b>13</b></a></span>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.</p> <p class="heading">Man Cannot Know God’s Ways</p><p class="regular"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/ecclesiastes/8-14.htm"><b>14</b></a></span>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. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/ecclesiastes/8-15.htm"><b>15</b></a></span>And I commend joy, for man has nothing better 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.</p> <p class="regular"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/ecclesiastes/8-16.htm"><b>16</b></a></span>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, <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/ecclesiastes/8-17.htm"><b>17</b></a></span>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.</p><A name="footnotes"></a><hr size="1" color="DDEEFF"><span class="mainfootnotes"><span class="mainfootnoteshdg">Footnotes:</span><br><span class="footnotesbot">a</span> <span class="fnverse">2</span> Hebrew lacks <i class="catch-word">say</i><br /><span class="footnotesbot">b</span> <span class="fnverse">2</span> Or <i>because of your oath to God</i><br /><span class="footnotesbot">c</span> <span class="fnverse">5</span> Or <i>and judgment</i><br /><span class="footnotesbot">d</span> <span class="fnverse">6</span> Or <i>evil</i><br /><span class="footnotesbot">e</span> <span class="fnverse">10</span> Some Hebrew manuscripts, Septuagint, Vulgate; most Hebrew manuscripts <i>forgotten</i><br /><span class="footnotesbot">f</span> <span class="fnverse">10</span> The Hebrew term <i language="Hebrew">hebel</i> can refer to a "vapor" or "mere breath"; also twice in verse 14 (see note on 1:2)<br /></span></div></div><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center">ESV Text Edition® (2016).<br /><br />The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®) copyright © 2001 by <a href="http://www.crossway.org/home/esv/">Crossway Bibles</a>, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. 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