5 Whoever keeps his command will come to no harm, and a wise heart knows the right time and procedure. 6 For there is a right time and procedure to every purpose, though a man’s misery weighs heavily upon him. 7 Since no one knows what will happen, who can tell him what is to come? 8 As 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. 9 All 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. 10 Then 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.
Ecclesiastes 8:5–10
Semantically similar passages
Ecclesiastes 10:13–15
13 The beginning of his talk is folly, and the end of his speech is evil madness. 14 Yet the fool multiplies words. No one knows what is coming, and who can tell him what will come after him? 15 The toil of a fool wearies him, for he does not know the way to the city.
Ecclesiastes 2:18–20
18 I hated all for which I had toiled under the sun, because I must leave it to the man who comes after me. 19 And who knows whether that man will be wise or foolish? Yet he will take over all the labor at which I have worked skillfully under the sun. This too is fu…
Ecclesiastes 3:15–17
15 What exists has already been, and what will be has already been, for God will call to account what has passed. 16 Furthermore, I saw under the sun that in the place of judgment there is wickedness, and in the place of righteousness there is wickedness. 17 I said in m…
Ecclesiastes 9:11–13
11 I saw something else under the sun: The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong; neither is the bread to the wise, nor the wealth to the intelligent, nor the favor to the skillful. For time and chance happen to all. 12 For surely no man knows his t…
Ecclesiastes 5:15–17
15 As a man came from his mother’s womb, so he will depart again, naked as he arrived. He takes nothing for his labor to carry in his hands. 16 This too is a grievous evil: Exactly as a man is born, so he will depart. What does he gain as he toils for the wind? 17 Moreo…
Ecclesiastes 7:14–16
14 In the day of prosperity, be joyful, but in the day of adversity, consider this: God has made one of these along with the other, so that a man cannot discover anything that will come after him. 15 In my futile life I have seen both of these: A righteous man peris…
Ecclesiastes 8:13–15
13 Yet because the wicked do not fear God, it will not go well with them, and their days will not lengthen like a shadow. 14 There 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 m…
Ecclesiastes 9:1–2
1 So I took all this to heart and concluded that the righteous and the wise, as well as their deeds, are in God’s hands. Man does not know what lies ahead, whether love or hate. 2 It is the same for all: There is a common fate for the righteous and the wicked, for…
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