Qoheleth (Ecclesiastes) 8

¹ Who is like the sage? Who else can solve a problem? The wisdom of a man lends brightness to his face; his face, once grim, is altered.

² This I say: Obey the command of the king, for the sake of the oath of God;

³ do not rashly transgress it; do not be stubborn when the cause is not a good one, since he acts as he thinks fit;

⁴ for the word of the king is paramount, and who dare say to him, ‘Why do that?’

⁵ He who obeys the command will come to no harm, and the wise man knows there will be a time of judgement.

⁶ For there is a time of judgement for everything; and man runs grave risks,

⁷ since he does not know what is going to happen; and who can tell him when it will happen?

⁸ No man can master the wind so as to hold it back, nor control the day of death. There is no discharge in time of war; no more can wickedness set its author free.

⁹ All this I observe as I consider all that is done under the sun, whenever man tyrannises over man to his hurt.

¹⁰ And then I see the wicked brought to burial and people come from the Temple to honour them in the city for having been the men they were. This, too, is vanity.

¹¹ Since the sentence on wrong-doing is not carried out at once, men’s inmost hearts are intent on doing wrong.

¹² The sinner who does wrong a hundred. times survives even so. I know very well that happiness is reserved for those who fear God, because they fear him;

¹³ that there will be no happiness for the wicked man and that lie will only eke out his days like a shadow, because he does not fear God.

¹⁴ But there is a vanity found on earth; the good, I mean, receive the treatment the wicked deserve; and the wicked the treatment the good deserve. This, too, I say, is vanity.

¹⁵ Joy, then, is the object of my praise, since under the sun there is no happiness for man except in eating, drinking and pleasure. This is his standby in his toil through the days of life God has given him under the sun.

¹⁶ Wisdom having been my careful study, I came to observe the business that goes on here on earth. And certainly the eyes of man never rest, day and night.

¹⁷ And I look at all the work of God: plainly no one can discover what the work is that goes on under the sun or explain why man should toil to seek yet never discover. Not even a sage can discover it, though he may claim to know.