| King James Bible | New International Version |
| 1Who is as the wise man? and who knoweth the interpretation of a thing? a man's wisdom maketh his face to shine, and the boldness of his face shall be changed. | 1Who is like the wise? Who knows the explanation of things? A person's wisdom brightens their face and changes its hard appearance. |
| 2I counsel thee to keep the king's commandment, and that in regard of the oath of God. | 2Obey the king's command, I say, because you took an oath before God. |
| 3Be not hasty to go out of his sight: stand not in an evil thing; for he doeth whatsoever pleaseth him. | 3Do not be in a hurry to leave the king's presence. Do not stand up for a bad cause, for he will do whatever he pleases. |
| 4Where the word of a king is, there is power: and who may say unto him, What doest thou? | 4Since a king's word is supreme, who can say to him, "What are you doing?" |
| 5Whoso keepeth the commandment shall feel no evil thing: and a wise man's heart discerneth both time and judgment. | 5Whoever obeys his command will come to no harm, and the wise heart will know the proper time and procedure. |
| 6Because to every purpose there is time and judgment, therefore the misery of man is great upon him. | 6For there is a proper time and procedure for every matter, though a person may be weighed down by misery. |
| 7For he knoweth not that which shall be: for who can tell him when it shall be? | 7Since no one knows the future, who can tell someone else what is to come? |
| 8There is no man that hath power over the spirit to retain the spirit; neither hath he power in the day of death: and there is no discharge in that war; neither shall wickedness deliver those that are given to it. | 8As no one has power over the wind to contain it, so no one has power over the time of their death. As no one is discharged in time of war, so wickedness will not release those who practice it. |
| 9All this have I seen, and applied my heart unto every work that is done under the sun: there is a time wherein one man ruleth over another to his own hurt. | 9All this I saw, as I applied my mind to everything done under the sun. There is a time when a man lords it over others to his own hurt. |
| 10And so I saw the wicked buried, who had come and gone from the place of the holy, and they were forgotten in the city where they had so done: this is also vanity. | 10Then too, I saw the wicked buried--those who used to come and go from the holy place and receive praise in the city where they did this. This too is meaningless. |
| 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. | 11When the sentence for a crime is not quickly carried out, people's hearts are filled with schemes to do wrong. |
| 12Though a sinner do evil an hundred times, and his days be prolonged, yet surely I know that it shall be well with them that fear God, which fear before him: | 12Although a wicked person who commits a hundred crimes may live a long time, I know that it will go better with those who fear God, who are reverent before him. |
| 13But 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. | 13Yet because the wicked do not fear God, it will not go well with them, and their days will not lengthen like a shadow. |
| 14There is a vanity which is done upon the earth; that there be just men, unto whom it happeneth according to the work of the wicked; again, there be wicked men, to whom it happeneth according to the work of the righteous: I said that this also is vanity. | 14There is something else meaningless that occurs on earth: the righteous who get what the wicked deserve, and the wicked who get what the righteous deserve. This too, I say, is meaningless. |
| 15Then I commended mirth, because a man hath no better thing under the sun, than to eat, and to drink, and to be merry: for that shall abide with him of his labour the days of his life, which God giveth him under the sun. | 15So I commend the enjoyment of life, because there is nothing better for a person under the sun than to eat and drink and be glad. Then joy will accompany them in their toil all the days of the life God has given them under the sun. |
| 16When I applied mine heart to know wisdom, and to see the business that is done upon the earth: (for also there is that neither day nor night seeth sleep with his eyes:) | 16When I applied my mind to know wisdom and to observe the labor that is done on earth--people getting no sleep day or night-- |
| 17Then I beheld all the work of God, that a man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun: because though a man labour to seek it out, yet he shall not find it; yea further; though a wise man think to know it, yet shall he not be able to find it. | 17then I saw all that God has done. No one can comprehend what goes on under the sun. Despite all their efforts to search it out, no one can discover its meaning. Even if the wise claim they know, they cannot really comprehend it. |
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