Ecclesiastes · 17 verses
Ecclesiastes 8
Every verse links to the people and places named in it, and to the passages readers connect it with.
The chapter
What happens here
Atlas's own reading, written from this chapter and nothing else, and published only once a person has approved it. Each scene names the verses it covers; the names inside it link to the people and places they name.
The king’s word is supreme, yet the wise heart is left waiting for the right time and procedure, with nobody knowing what comes next.
The king and the unknowable hourvv. 1–8
Wisdom alters the face, but it does not make the king answerable. His command is to be kept, his presence not rashly abandoned, and his word stands so high that the question “What are you doing?” has nowhere to go. There is a right time and procedure for every purpose, though misery weighs heavily, the future remains undisclosed, and death will not be detained like wind in a hand.
The city’s praise and the earth’s odd arithmeticvv. 9–15
The speaker has seen one man lord it over another to his own detriment, and has seen the wicked buried after going in and out of the holy place, then praised in the very city where they did it. Delayed punishment gives evil room to settle in the heart. Stranger still, the righteous may receive what the wicked deserve, while the wicked receive what belongs to the righteous. The response is not an explanation but a meal, a drink, and some merriment during the days given under the sun.
The work that will not give up its meaningvv. 16–17
The searcher applies his mind to wisdom and watches the work done on earth, losing sleep over it by day and night. He sees every work of God, but the work under the sun remains too large for a man to comprehend. Even the wise man who claims to know cannot find its meaning.
The text
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Berean Standard Bible, public domain. Names the Hebrew and Greek put in the verse link to the person, place or people they name; the address beside each verse is a link to that verse, which is what a reader copies and shares.
Eccl 8:1Who is like the wise man? Who knows the interpretation of a matter? A man’s wisdom brightens his face, and the sternness of his face is changed.
Eccl 8:2Keep the king’s command, I say, because of your oath before God.
Eccl 8:3Do not hasten to leave his presence, and do not persist in a bad cause, for he will do whatever he pleases.
Eccl 8:4For the king’s word is supreme, and who can say to him, “What are you doing?”
Eccl 8:5Whoever keeps his command will come to no harm, and a wise heart knows the right time and procedure.
Eccl 8:6For there is a right time and procedure to every purpose, though a man’s misery weighs heavily upon him.
Eccl 8:7Since no one knows what will happen, who can tell him what is to come?
Eccl 8:8As no man has power over the wind to contain it, so no one has authority over his day of death. As no one can be discharged in wartime, so wickedness will not release those who practice it.
Eccl 8:9All this I have seen, applying my mind to every deed that is done under the sun; there is a time when one man lords it over another to his own detriment.
Eccl 8:10Then too, I saw the burial of the wicked who used to go in and out of the holy place, and they were praised in the city where they had done so. This too is futile.
Eccl 8:11When the sentence for a crime is not speedily executed, the hearts of men become fully set on doing evil.
Eccl 8:12Although a sinner does evil a hundred times and still lives long, yet I also know that it will go well with those who fear God, who are reverent in His presence.
Eccl 8:13Yet because the wicked do not fear God, it will not go well with them, and their days will not lengthen like a shadow.
Eccl 8:14There is a futility that is done on the earth: There are righteous men who get what the actions of the wicked deserve, and there are wicked men who get what the actions of the righteous deserve. I say that this too is futile.
Eccl 8:15So I commended the enjoyment of life, because there is nothing better for a man under the sun than to eat and drink and be merry. For this joy will accompany him in his labor during the days of his life that God gives him under the sun.
Eccl 8:16When I applied my mind to know wisdom and to observe the task that one performs on the earth—though his eyes do not see sleep in the day or even in the night—
Eccl 8:17I saw every work of God, and that a man is unable to comprehend the work that is done under the sun. Despite his efforts to search it out, he cannot find its meaning; even if the wise man claims to know, he is unable to comprehend.
02 — Read alongside
Where this is echoed
Readers' own connections, from OpenBible's crowd-voted cross-references — agreement about relevance, and not scholarly confidence. 234 passages were voted onto 17 verses of this chapter; the 16 shown lead on votes, and each is listed at the verse it was voted onto most strongly.
- 11Isaiah 26:10Though grace is shown to the wicked man, he does not learn righteousness. In the land of righteousness he acts unjustly and fails to see the majesty of the LORD.
- 11Psalms 50:21–22You have done these things, and I kept silent; you thought I was just like you. But now I rebuke you and accuse you to your face.
- 11Romans 2:4–5Or do you disregard the riches of His kindness, tolerance, and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness leads you to repentance?
- 12Psalms 37:11But the meek will inherit the land and delight in abundant prosperity.
- 6Ecclesiastes 3:1To everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven:
- 8Job 14:5Since his days are determined and the number of his months is with You, and since You have set limits that he cannot exceed,
- 8Psalms 89:48What man can live and never see death? Can he deliver his soul from the power of Sheol? Selah
- 112 Peter 3:3–10Most importantly, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires.
- 6Ecclesiastes 3:17I said in my heart, “God will judge the righteous and the wicked, since there is a time for every activity and every deed.”
- 11Matthew 24:49–50And he begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with drunkards.
- 12Luke 1:50His mercy extends to those who fear Him, from generation to generation.
- 122 Peter 2:9if all this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to hold the unrighteous for punishment on the day of judgment.
- 3Ecclesiastes 10:4If the ruler’s temper flares against you, do not abandon your post, for calmness lays great offenses to rest.
- 11Psalms 10:6He says to himself, “I will not be moved; from age to age I am free of distress.”
- 12Ecclesiastes 7:15In my futile life I have seen both of these: A righteous man perishing in his righteousness, and a wicked man living long in his wickedness.
- 17Ecclesiastes 3:11He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men, yet they cannot fathom the work that God has done from beginning to end.
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