Ecclesiastes 8

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.Cross-references: Gen 40:8 · Gen 41:15 · Gen 41:38 · Ex 34:29 · Deut 28:50 · Job 33:23 · +16 more

2I say, “Keep the king’s command!” because of the oath to God.Cross-references: Ex 22:11 · 2Sam 21:7 · 1Ki 2:43 · 1Chr 29:24 · Prov 24:21 · Ezek 17:13 · +3 more

3Don’t be hasty to go out of his presence. Don’t persist in an evil thing, for he does whatever pleases him,Cross-references: 1Ki 1:50 · 1Ki 2:21 · Prov 14:29 · Prov 16:14 · Prov 30:31 · Eccl 10:4 · +5 more

4for the king’s word is supreme. Who can say to him, “What are you doing?”Cross-references: 1Ki 2:25 · 1Ki 2:29 · 1Ki 2:46 · Job 9:12 · Job 33:12 · Job 34:18 · +8 more

5Whoever keeps the commandment shall not come to harm, and his wise heart will know the time and procedure.Cross-references: Ex 1:17 · Ex 1:20 · 1Chr 12:32 · Ps 119:6 · Prov 17:24 · Eccl 2:14 · +13 more

6For there is a time and procedure for every purpose, although the misery of man is heavy on him.Cross-references: Eccl 3:1 · Eccl 3:11 · Eccl 3:17 · Eccl 7:13 · Eccl 11:9 · Isa 3:11 · +5 more

7For he doesn’t know that which will be; for who can tell him how it will be?Cross-references: Prov 24:22 · Prov 29:1 · Eccl 3:22 · Eccl 6:12 · Eccl 9:12 · Eccl 10:14 · +4 more

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 practice it.Cross-references: Deut 20:1 · 2Sam 14:14 · 2Ki 7:15 · Job 14:5 · Job 34:14 · Ps 9:17 · +11 more

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.Cross-references: Ex 14:5 · Ex 14:28 · Deut 2:30 · 2Ki 14:10 · 2Ki 25:7 · Eccl 1:14 · +5 more

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.Cross-references: 2Ki 9:34 · Job 21:18 · Job 21:32 · Ps 31:12 · Ps 122:1 · Prov 10:7 · +7 more

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.Cross-references: Ex 8:15 · Ex 8:32 · Job 21:11 · Ps 10:6 · Ps 50:21 · Isa 5:18 · +7 more

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.Cross-references: Deut 12:25 · 1Ki 2:5 · 1Ki 21:25 · 1Ki 22:34 · 1Chr 16:30 · Ps 37:11 · +19 more

13But it shall not be well with the wicked, neither shall he lengthen days like a shadow, because he doesn’t fear God.Cross-references: Job 7:6 · Job 14:2 · Job 18:5 · Job 20:5 · Job 21:30 · Ps 11:5 · +12 more

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.Cross-references: Job 9:22 · Job 21:7 · Job 21:17 · Job 24:21 · Ps 73:3 · Ps 73:12 · +8 more

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 labor all the days of his life which God has given him under the sun.Cross-references: Eccl 2:24 · Eccl 3:12 · Eccl 3:22 · Eccl 5:18 · Eccl 9:7 · 1Tim 4:3 · +1 more

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),Cross-references: Gen 31:40 · Ps 127:2 · Eccl 1:13 · Eccl 2:23 · Eccl 4:8 · Eccl 5:12 · +3 more

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 labors 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.Cross-references: Job 5:9 · Job 11:7 · Ps 40:5 · Ps 73:16 · Ps 104:24 · Prov 30:3 · +5 more