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          DASV: Ecclesiastes 8    

1 Who is like the wise?
     Who knows the interpretation of a thing?
   Wisdom makes a person's face to shine,
     and softens the stern hardness of his face.

2 Obey the king's command,
     because you took an oath of loyalty before God.
3 Do not be too quick to leave his presence,
     do not stand up for an evil cause,
           for he can do whatever he wants to.
4 For the king's word has authority,
     who can say to him,
           "What are you doing?"
5 Whoever obeys a command will experience no harm,
     a wise heart knows the right time and solution.
6 For every issue has its right time and solution,
     even though the misery of man weighs heavy on him.
7 For no one knows what will be,
     so who can tell him what will happen?
8 There is no one with the power to restrain the wind,
     neither does anyone have power over the day of death,
   and there is no one discharged in time of war,
     neither can wickedness rescue anyone who practices it.

9 All this have I seen, as I applied my heart to everything
that is done under the sun; sometimes one person dominates
another to his own hurt.
10 So too I saw the wicked honorably buried and those who
used to go in and out of the holy place and are now praised
in the city for what they have done. This also is futility.
11 When a sentence against a crime is not executed quickly,
the human heart will be encouraged to do evil.
12 Even though a sinner does evil a hundred times, and still
lives a long life, yet surely I know that it will be well with
those who fear God, because they stand before him in fear.
13 But it will not go well for the wicked, neither will he
prolong his days like a shadow; because he does not stand
in fear before God.

14 Here is another futility that happens on earth: there are
righteous people who get what wicked deserve; similarly,
there are wicked men who get what the righteous deserve.
I said that this too is futility.
15 So I commend enjoyment, because there is nothing better
for a person under the sun, than to eat, drink and to be happy,
for this will stick with a person in his toil all the days
of his life that God has given him under the sun.

16 When I applied my heart to know wisdom, and to see the
toil that is done on the earth, for people's eyes do not
get any sleep day or night,
17 then I saw all the work of God, that one cannot figure
out what is happening under the sun. However much a person
strives to search it out, yet he cannot discover its meaning;
even though the wise thinks he knows, yet he really
cannot understand it.

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