Ecclesiastes:8:2-17

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* Observe the commandment of the king , and that because of the word of the oath of God . * Be not hasty ; thou shalt go forth out of his presence : stand not in an evil matter ; for he will do whatsoever he shall please , * even as a king having power : and who will say to him , What doest thou ? * He that keeps the commandment shall not know an evil thing : and the heart of the wise knows the time of judgement . * For to every thing there is time and judgement ; for the knowledge of a man is great to him . * For there is no one that knows what is going to be : for who shall tell him how it shall be ? * There is no man that has power over the spirit to retain the spirit ; and there is no power in the day of death : and there is no discharge in the day of the battle ; neither shall ungodliness save her votary . * So I saw all this , and I applied my heart to every work that has been done under the sun ; all the things wherein man has power over man to afflict him . * And then I saw the ungodly carried into the tombs , and that out of the holy place : and they departed , and were praised in the city , because they had done thus : this also is vanity . * Because there is no contradiction made on the part of those who do evil quickly , therefore the heart of the children of men is fully determined in them to do evil . * He that has sinned has done evil from that time , and long from beforehand : nevertheless I know , that it is well with them that fear God , that they may fear before him : * but it shall not be well with the ungodly , and he shall not prolong his days , which are as a shadow ; forasmuch as he fears not before God . * There is a vanity which is done upon the earth ; that there are righteous persons to whom it happens according to the doing of the ungodly ; and there are ungodly men , to whom it happens according to the doing of the just : I said , This is also vanity . * Then I praised mirth , because there is no good for a man under the sun , but to eat , and drink , and be merry : and this shall attend him in his labour all the days of his life , which God has given him under the sun . * Whereupon I set my heart to know wisdom , and to perceive the trouble that was wrought upon the earth : for there is that neither by day nor night sees sleep with his eyes . * And I beheld all the works of God , that a man shall not be able to discover the work which is wrought under the sun ; whatsoever things a man shall endeavour to seek , however a man may labour to seek it , yet he shall not find it ; yea , how much soever a wise man may speak of knowing it , he shall not be able to find it : for I applied all this to my heart , and my heart has seen all this .

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