Ecclesiastes/Qohelet 8

NEW JERUSALEM	NEW AMERICAN BIBLE
1 Who compares with the sage? Who else knows how to explain things? Wisdom lights up the face,enlivening a grim expression.	1 Who is like the wise man, and who knows the explanation of things? A man's wisdom illumines his face, but an impudent look is resented.
2 Obey the king's command and, because of the divine promise,	2 Observe the precept of the king, and in view of your oath to God,
3 be in no hurry to depart from it; do not be obstinate in a bad cause, since the king wil do as he likes inany case.	3 be not hasty to withdraw from the king; do not join in with a base plot, for he does whatever he pleases,
4 Since the word of a king is sovereign, what is the point of saying, 'Why do that?'	4 because his word is sovereign, and who can say to him, "What are you doing?"
5 One who obeys the command will come to no harm; the heart of the sage knows the right moment andverdict,	5 "He who keeps the commandment experiences no evil, and the wise man's heart knows times and judgments;
6 for there is a right moment and verdict for everything; but misfortune lies heavy upon anyone	6 for there is a time and a judgment for everything."--Yet it is a great affliction for man
7 who does not know what the outcome wil be, no one is going to say how things wil turn out.	7 that he is ignorant of what is to come; for who will make known to him how it will be?
8 No one can control the wind and stop it from blowing, no one can control the day of death. From warthere is no escape, no more can wickedness save the person who commits it.	8 There is no man who is master of the breath of life so as to retain it, and none has mastery of the day of death. There is no exemption from the struggle, nor are the wicked saved by their wickedness.
9 I have seen al this to be so, having careful y studied everything taking place under the sun, while oneperson tyrannises over another to the former's detriment.	9 All these things I considered and I applied my mind to every work that is done under the sun, while one man tyrannizes over another to his hurt.
10 And again, I have observed the wicked carried to their graves, and people leaving the holy place and,once out in the city, forgetting how the wicked used to behave; how futile this is too!	10 Meanwhile I saw wicked men approach and enter; and as they left the sacred place, they were praised in the city for what they had done. This also is vanity.
11 Because the sentence on the evil-doer is not carried out on the instant, people's hearts are ful ofdesire to do wrong.	11 Because the sentence against evildoers is not promptly executed, therefore the hearts of men are filled with the desire to commit evil--
12 The sinner who does wrong a hundred times lives on. But this too I know, that there is good in store forpeople who fear God, because they fear him,	12 because the sinner does evil a hundred times and survives. Though indeed I know that it shall be well with those who fear God, for their reverence toward him;
13 but there is no good in store for the wicked because he does not fear God, and so, like a shadow, hewil not prolong his days.	13 and that it shall not be well with the wicked man, and he shall not prolong his shadowy days, for his lack of reverence toward God.
14 Another futile thing that happens on earth: upright people being treated as though they were wickedand wicked people being treated as though they were upright. To me this is one more example of futility.	14 This is a vanity which occurs on earth: there are just men treated as though they had done evil and wicked men treated as though they had done justly. This, too, I say is vanity.
15 And therefore I praise joy, since human happiness lies only in eating and drinking and in takingpleasure; this comes from what someone achieves during the days of life that God gives under the sun.	15 Therefore I commend mirth, because there is nothing good for man under the sun except eating and drinking and mirth: for this is the accompaniment of his toil during the limited days of the life which God gives him under the sun.
16 Having applied myself to acquiring wisdom and to observing the activity taking place in the world -- forday and night our eyes enjoy no rest-	16 When I applied my heart to know wisdom and to observe what is done on earth,
17 I have scrutinised God's whole creation: you cannot get to the bottom of everything taking place underthe sun; you may wear yourself out in the search, but you wil never find it. Not even a sage can get to thebottom of it, even if he says that he has done so.	17 I recognized that man is unable to find out all God's work that is done under the sun, even though neither by day nor by night do his eyes find rest in sleep. However much man toils in searching, he does not find it out; and even if the wise man says that he knows, he is unable to find it out.