Ecclesiastes or Preacher 08 The Obedience Due to the King

 Ecclesiastes or Preacher 08

The Obedience Due to the King

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

2 I say: Keep the king's commandment, and this in consideration of God's oath.

3 Do not be hasty to go out from his presence, nor persist in any evil thing, for he does whatever pleases him.

4 For the king's word has power, and who will say to him, 'What are you doing?'

5 Whoever keeps the commandment will experience no evil; and a wise man's heart discerns the time and the way.

6 For to every purpose there is a time and a way, because the evil of a man is great upon him.

7 For he does not know what will happen; and how it will happen, who can tell him?

8 No man has power over the spirit to retain the spirit; You have no power on the day of death; there is no weapon in this battle; nor will wickedness deliver the wicked.

9 All this I saw when I applied my heart to every work that is done under the sun: there is a time when one man has dominion over another, to his own misfortune.

10 So I also saw the wicked buried, and behold, there were those who went to their graves, and those who had done good and gone out of the holy place were forgotten in the city. This also is vanity.