¹Who is like the wise man ? And who knows the interpretation of a thing ? A man ’s wisdom makes his face shine, and the hardness of his face is changed .

²I say , “Keep the king ’s command !” because of the oath to God.

³Don’t be hasty to go out of his presence . Don’t persist in an evil thing , for he does whatever pleases him ,

⁴for the king ’s word is supreme. Who can say to him , “What are you doing ?”

⁵Whoever keeps the commandment shall not come to harm , and his wise heart will know the time and procedure .

⁶For there is a time and procedure for every purpose , although the misery of man is heavy on him .

⁷For he doesn’t know that which will be ; for who can tell him how it will be ?

⁸There is no man who has power over the spirit to contain the spirit ; neither does he have power over the day of death . There is no discharge in war ; neither shall wickedness deliver those who practise it .

⁹All this I have seen , and applied my mind to every work that is done under the sun . There is a time in which one man has power over another to his hurt .

¹⁰So I saw the wicked buried . Indeed they came also from holiness. They went and were forgotten in the city where they did this . This also is vanity .

¹¹Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily , therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil .

¹²Though a sinner commits crimes a hundred times , and lives long , yet surely I know that it will be better with those who fear God, who are reverent before him .

¹³But it shall not be well with the wicked , neither shall he lengthen days like a shadow , because he doesn’t fear God .

¹⁴There is a vanity which is done on the earth, that there are righteous men to whom it happens according to the work of the wicked . Again , there are wicked men to whom it happens according to the work of the righteous . I said that this also is vanity .

¹⁵Then I commended mirth , because a man has no better thing under the sun than to eat, to drink , and to be joyful : for that will accompany him in his labour all the days of his life which God has given him under the sun .

¹⁶When I applied my heart to know wisdom , and to see the business that is done on the earth (even though eyes see no sleep day or night ),

¹⁷then I saw all the work of God , that man can ’t find out the work that is done under the sun , because however much a man labours to seek it out , yet he won’t find it . Yes even though a wise man thinks he can comprehend it , he won’t be able to find it .