Ecclesiastes 8:1-9

¹Who 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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

⁸No 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.

⁹All 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.