Ecclesiastes 8:1-11

¹Who knows the wise? and who knows the interpretation of a saying? A man's wisdom will lighten his countenance; but a man of shameless countenance will be hated.

²Observe the commandment of the king, and that because of the word of the oath of God.

³Be not hasty; you shall go forth out of his presence: stand not in an evil matter; for he will do whatever he shall please,

⁴even as a king having power: and who will say to him, What do you?

⁵He that keeps the commandment shall not know an evil thing: and the heart of the wise knows the time of judgement.

⁶For to every thing there is time and judgement; for the knowledge of a man is great to him.

⁷For there is no one that knows what is going to be: for who shall tell him how it shall be?

⁸There is no man that has power over the spirit to retain the spirit; and there is no power in the day of death: and there is no discharge in the day of the battle; neither shall ungodliness save her votary.

⁹So I saw all this, and I applied my heart to every work that has been done under the sun; all the things wherein man has power over man to afflict him.

¹⁰And then I saw the ungodly carried into the tombs, and that out of the holy place: and they departed, and were praised in the city, because they had done thus: this also is vanity.

¹¹Because there is no contradiction made on the part of those who do evil quickly, therefore the heart of the children of men is fully determined in them to do evil.