ECCLESIASTES Chapter 8 (GNB)
SERAPHIM
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8:1 Only the wise
know what things really mean. Wisdom makes them smile and makes their frowns
disappear. |
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8:2 Do what the
king says, and don't make any rash promises to God. |
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8:3 The king can
do anything he likes, so depart from his presence;
don't stay in such a dangerous place. |
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8:4 The king acts
with authority, and no one can challenge what he
does. |
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8:5 As long as you
obey his commands, you are safe, and a wise person knows how and when to do
it. |
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8:6 There is a
right time and a right way to do everything, but we know so little! |
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8:7 None of us
knows what is going to happen, and there is no one to tell us. |
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8:8 No one can
keep from dying or put off the day of death. That is a battle we cannot
escape; we cannot cheat our way out. |
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8:9 I saw all this
when I thought about the things that are done in this world, a world where
some people have power and others have to suffer under them. |
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8:10 Yes, I have
seen the wicked buried and in their graves, but on the way back from the
cemetery people praise them in the very city where they did their evil. It is
useless. |
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8:11 Why do people
commit crimes so readily? Because crime is not punished quickly enough. |
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8:12 A sinner may
commit a hundred crimes and still live. Oh yes, I know what they say:
"If you obey God, everything will be all right, |
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8:13 but it will
not go well for the wicked. Their life is like a shadow and they will die
young, because they do not obey God." |
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8:14 But this is
nonsense. Look at what happens in the world: sometimes the righteous get the
punishment of the wicked, and the wicked get the
reward of the righteous. I say it is useless. |
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8:15 So I am
convinced that we should enjoy ourselves, because the only pleasure we have
in this life is eating and drinking and enjoying ourselves. We can at least
do this as we labor during the life that God has
given us in this world. |
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8:16 Whenever I
tried to become wise and learn what goes on in the world, I realized that you
could stay awake night and day |
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8:17 and never be
able to understand what God is doing. However hard you try, you will never
find out. The wise may claim to know, but they don't. |
CHAPTER
ENDS
SERAPHIM
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