Who is as the wise man? and who knoweth the interpretation of a thing? A man's wisdom maketh his face to shine, and the {Hebrew: strength.}hardness of his face is changed.
I counsel thee, Keep the king's command, and that in regard of the oath of God.
Be not hasty to go out of his presence; persist not in an evil thing: for he doeth whatsoever pleaseth him.
For the king's word hath power; and who may say unto him, What doest thou?
Whoso keepeth the commandment shall know no evil thing; and a wise man's heart discerneth time and judgment:
for to every {Or, matter}purpose there is a time and judgment; because the {Or, evil}misery of man is great upon him:
for he knoweth not that which shall be; {Or, for even when it cometh to pass, who shall declare it unto him?}for who can tell him how it shall be?
There is no man that hath power over the {Or, wind}spirit to retain the {Or, wind}spirit; neither hath he power over the day of death; and there is no discharge {Or, in battle}in war: neither shall wickedness deliver him that is given to it.
All this have I seen, and applied my heart unto every work that is done under the sun: {Or, what time one man had &c.}there is a time wherein one man hath power over another {Or, to his own hurt}to his hurt.
So I saw the wicked buried, {Or, who had come and gone away from the holy place; and they were forgotten in the city where they had so done Or, and men came and went &c.}and they came to the grave; and they that had done right went away from the holy place, and were forgotten in the city: this also is vanity.
Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is {Or, emboldened}fully set in them to do evil.
Though a sinner do evil a hundred times, and prolong his days, yet surely I know that it shall be well with them that fear God, that fear before him:
but it shall not be well with the wicked, neither shall he prolong his days, which are as a shadow; because he feareth not before God.
There is a vanity which is done upon the earth, that there are righteous men unto whom it happeneth according to the work of the wicked; again, there are wicked men to whom it happeneth according to the work of the righteous: I said that this also is vanity.
Then I commended mirth, because a man hath no better thing under the sun, than to eat, and to drink, and to be joyful: {Or, and that this should accompany him}for that shall abide with him in his labor all the days of his life which God hath given him under the sun.
When I applied my heart to know wisdom, and to see the {Or, travail}business that is done upon the earth ( {Or, how that neither by day nor by night do men see sleep with their eyes}for also there is that neither day nor night seeth sleep with his eyes),
then I beheld all the work of God, that man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun: because however much a man labor to seek it out, yet he shall not find it; yea moreover, though a wise man think to know it, yet shall he not be able to find it.
Querverweise zu Prediger 8,11 Pred 8,11
But when Pharaoh saw that there was respite, he {Hebrew: made heavy.}hardened his heart, and hearkened not unto them, as Jehovah had spoken.
now therefore hear ye the word of Jehovah, O remnant of Judah: Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, If ye indeed set your faces to enter into Egypt, and go to sojourn there;
And Pharaoh {Hebrew: made heavy.}hardened his heart this time also, and he did not let the people go.
They send forth their little ones like a flock,And their children dance.
They {Hebrew: lift up the voice.}sing to the timbrel and harp,And rejoice at the sound of the pipe.
They spend their days in prosperity,And in a moment they go down to Sheol.
And they say unto God, Depart from us;For we desire not the knowledge of thy ways.
What is the Almighty, that we should serve him?And what profit should we have, if we pray unto him?
He saith in his heart, I shall not be moved;To all generations I shall not be in adversity.
These things hast thou done, and I kept silence;Thou thoughtest that I was altogether such a one as thyself:But I will reprove thee, and set them in order before thine eyes.
Now consider this, ye that forget God,Lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver:
Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of falsehood, and sin as it were with a cart rope;
that say, Let him make speed, let him hasten his work, that we may see it; and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw nigh and come, that we may know it!
Let favor be showed to the wicked, yet will he not learn righteousness; in the land of uprightness will he deal wrongfully, and will not behold the majesty of Jehovah.
And of whom hast thou been afraid and in fear, that thou liest, and hast not remembered me, nor laid it to thy heart? have not I held my peace even of long time, and thou fearest me not?
Moab hath been at ease from his youth, and he hath settled on his lees, and hath not been emptied from vessel to vessel, neither hath he gone into captivity: therefore his taste remaineth in him, and his scent is not changed.
and shall begin to beat his fellow-servants, and shall eat and drink with the drunken;
the lord of that {Greek: bondservant.}servant shall come in a day when he expecteth not, and in an hour when he knoweth not,
Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?
but after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up for thyself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God;
knowing this first, that {Greek: in the last of the days.}in the last days mockers shall come with mockery, walking after their own lusts,
and saying, Where is the promise of his {Greek: presence.}coming? for, from the day that the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.
For this they wilfully forget, that there were heavens from of old, and an earth compacted out of water and {Or, through}amidst water, by the word of God;
by which means the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished:
but the heavens that now are, and the earth, by the same word have been {Or, stored with fire}stored up for fire, being reserved against the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.
But forget not this one thing, beloved, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some count slackness; but is longsuffering to you-ward, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
But the day of the Lord will come as a thief; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the {Or, heavenly bodies}elements shall be dissolved with fervent heat, and the earth and the works that are therein shall be {The most ancient manuscripts read discovered.}burned up.