{"meta":{"source":"Prime Bible","sourceUrl":"https://primebible.com","license":"Public domain (translation text); see citation policy at /citation-policy","organization":"501(c)(3) nonprofit — EIN 41-2531951","canonicalUrl":"https://primebible.com/erv/ecclesiastes/8","llmTxt":"https://primebible.com/llms.txt","generatedAt":"2026-05-29T23:49:34.599Z"},"reference":{"translation":"ERV","book":"Ecclesiastes","bookSlug":"ecclesiastes","chapter":8,"testament":"OLD"},"navigation":{"previousChapter":7,"nextChapter":9,"totalChapters":12,"totalVerses":17},"verses":[{"verseNumber":1,"text":"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 hardness of his face is changed."},{"verseNumber":2,"text":"I counsel thee, Keep the king's command, and that in regard of the oath of God."},{"verseNumber":3,"text":"Be not hasty to go out of his presence; persist not in an evil thing: for he doeth whatsoever pleaseth him."},{"verseNumber":4,"text":"Because the king's word hath power; and who may say unto him, What doest thou?"},{"verseNumber":5,"text":"Whoso keepeth the commandment shall know no evil thing; and a wise man's heart discerneth time and judgment:"},{"verseNumber":6,"text":"for to every purpose there is a time and judgment; because the misery of man is great upon him:"},{"verseNumber":7,"text":"for he knoweth not that which shall be; for who can tell him how it shall be?"},{"verseNumber":8,"text":"There is no man that hath power over the spirit to retain the spirit; neither hath he power over the day of death; and there is no discharge in that war: neither shall wickedness deliver him that is given to it."},{"verseNumber":9,"text":"All this have I seen, and applied my heart unto every work that is done under the sun: there is a time wherein one man hath power over another to his hurt."},{"verseNumber":10,"text":"And withal I saw the wicked buried, 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."},{"verseNumber":11,"text":"Because 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."},{"verseNumber":12,"text":"Though a sinner do evil an hundred times, and prolong his days, yet surely I know that it shall be well with them that fear God, which fear before him:"},{"verseNumber":13,"text":"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."},{"verseNumber":14,"text":"There is a vanity which is done upon the earth; that there be righteous 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."},{"verseNumber":15,"text":"Then 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 in his labour all the days of his life which God hath given him under the sun."},{"verseNumber":16,"text":"When 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:)"},{"verseNumber":17,"text":"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 labour 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."}],"citation":{"inline":"Ecclesiastes 8 (ERV)","markdown":"[Ecclesiastes 8](https://primebible.com/erv/ecclesiastes/8)","sbl":"Prime Bible. *The Bible.* ERV. https://primebible.com/erv/ecclesiastes/8 (accessed 2026-05-29)."}}