Ecclesiastes 8:5-11

⁵Whoever keeps the king's commands avoids harm. A wise man's heart recognizes the proper course and time of action.

⁶For every matter there is a correct response and a time to respond, because the troubles of man are great.

⁷No one knows what is coming next. Who can tell him what is coming?

⁸No one is ruler over his breath so as to stop the breath, and no one has power over the day of his death. No one is discharged from the army during a battle, and wickedness will not rescue those who are its slaves.

⁹I have realized all this; I have applied my heart to every kind of work that is done under the sun. There is a time when a person oppresses another person to that person's hurt.

¹⁰So I saw the wicked buried publicly. They were taken from the holy area and buried and were praised by people in the city where they had done their wicked deeds. This also is uselessness.

¹¹When a sentence against an evil crime is not executed quickly, it entices the hearts of human beings to do evil.