Ecclesiastes 8

CHAPTER 8

1Who is such as a wise man? and who knoweth the solving, either expounding , of a word? The wisdom of a man shineth in his cheer; and the mightiest shall change his face.

2I keep the mouth of the king, and the commandments and [the] swearings of God.

3Haste thou not to go away from his face, and dwell thou not in evil work. For he shall do all thing, that he will;

4and his word is full of power, and no man may say to him, Why doest thou so?

5He that keepeth the commandment of God , shall not feel anything of evil; the heart of a wise man understandeth time and answer.

6Time and season is to each work; and much torment is of a man,

7for he knoweth not [the] things passed, and he may not know by any messenger [the] things to come.

8It is not in the power of man to forbid the spirit, that is, his soul, from going out from the body , neither he hath power in the day of death, neither he is suffered to have rest, when the battle nigheth; neither wickedness shall save a wicked man.

9I beheld all these things, and I gave mine heart in all works, that be done under the sun. Sometime a man is lord of a man, to his evil.

10I saw wicked men buried, which, when they lived yet, were in holy place; and they were praised in the city, as men of just [or rightwise] works; but also this is vanity.

11Forsooth for the sentence is not brought forth soon against evil men, the sons of men do evils without any dread.

12Nevertheless of that, that a sinner doeth evil an hundred times, and is suffered by patience, I knew that good it shall be to men dreading God, that reverence his face, or presence .

13Good be not to the wicked man, neither his days be made long; but pass they as shadow, that dread not the face of the Lord.

14Also another vanity there is, that is done on earth. Just [or rightwise] men there be, to whom evils come, as if they did the works of wicked men; and wicked men there be, that be as secure, as if they had done the deeds of just [or rightwise] men; but I deem also this most vain.

15Therefore I praised gladness, that no good was to a man under the sun, but to eat, and drink, and to be joyful; and that he should bear away with himself only this of his travail, in the days of his life, which God gave to him under the sun.

16And I setted mine heart to know wisdom, and to understand the parting, which is turned in earth. A man is, that by days and nights, taketh not sleep with his eyes.

17And I understood, that of all the works of God, a man may find no reason of those things, that be done under the sun; and inasmuch as he travaileth more to seek, by so much he shall find less; yea, though a wise man say that he knoweth, he shall not be able to find.

Wycliffe’s Bible with Modern Spelling ©2017 Wycliffe’s Apocrypha ©2013, 2015 Wycliffe’s Bible © 2012, 2015 Wycliffe’s New Testament ©2001, 2011 Wycliffe’s Old Testament ©2001, 2010 
Published by: Terence P. Noble