Ecclesiastes 8:2-12

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.

¹⁰And then I saw evil men put to rest, taken even from the holy place; and they went about and were praised in the town because of what they had done. This again is to no purpose.

¹¹Because punishment for an evil work comes not quickly, the minds of the sons of men are fully given to doing evil.

¹²Though a sinner does evil a hundred times and his life is long, I am certain that it will be well for those who go in fear of God and are in fear before him.