Ecclesiastes · Free Bible Version
Ecclesiastes 8 Free Bible Version
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
1 Who can compare to the truly wise? Who knows how to interpret things? If you have wisdom your face lights up, and your stern look is softened.
1 ¿QUIÉN como el sabio? ¿y quién [como] el que sabe la declaración de las cosas? La sabiduría del hombre hará relucir su rostro, y mudaráse la tosquedad de su semblante.
2 My advice is to do what the king says, since that's what you promised God.
2 Yo [te aviso] que guardes el mandamiento del rey y la palabra del juramento de Dios.
3 Don't be quick to walk out on the king without thinking what you're doing, and don't get involved with those who plot against him, for the king can do what he pleases.
3 No te apresures á irte de delante de él, ni en cosa mala persistas; porque él hará todo lo que quisiere:
4 The king's orders have supreme authority—who is going to question him, saying, “What are you doing?”
4 Pues la palabra del rey [es con] potestad, ¿y quién le dirá, Qué haces?
5 Those who follow his commands will not be involved in doing evil. Wise people think, recognizing there's a right time, and a right way.
5 El que guarda el mandamiento no experimentará mal; y el tiempo y el juicio conoce el corazón del sabio.
6 For there's a right time and a right way for everything, even when things are going badly for you.
6 Porque para todo lo que quisieres hay tiempo y juicio; mas el trabajo del hombre es grande sobre él;
7 No one knows what's going to happen, so who can say what the future holds?
7 Porque no sabe lo que ha de ser; y el cuándo haya de ser, ¿quién se lo enseñará?
8 No one can hold onto the breath of life; no one can prevent the day when they die. There's no way of escaping that battle, and the wicked won't be saved by their wickedness!
8 No hay hombre que tenga potestad sobre el espíritu para retener el espíritu, ni potestad sobre el día de la muerte: y no [valen] armas en [tal] guerra; ni la impiedad librará al que la posee.
9 I examined all these things, and thought about all that happens here on earth, and the damage that's caused when people dominate others.
9 Todo esto he visto, y puesto he mi corazón en todo lo que debajo del sol se hace: hay tiempo en que el hombre se enseñorea del hombre para mal suyo.
10 Yes, I have seen wicked people buried with great honor. They used to go to the holy place, and were praised in the very city where they did their evil. This is hard to understand!
10 Esto vi también: que los impíos sepultados vinieron aún [en memoria]; mas los que partieron del lugar santo, fueron luego puestos en olvido en la ciudad donde con rectitud habían obrado. Esto también es vanidad.
11 When people are not punished quickly for their crimes they are even more determined to do wrong.
11 Porque no se ejecuta luego sentencia sobre la mala obra, el corazón de los hijos de los hombres está en ellos lleno para hacer mal.
12 Even though a sinner may do wrong a hundred times, and live a long life, I'm convinced that those who do what God says will be better off.
12 Bien que el pecador haga mal cien veces, y le sea dilatado [el castigo], con todo yo también sé que los que á Dios temen tendrán bien, los que temieren ante su presencia;
13 In fact, the wicked will not live long, passing like a shadow, because they refuse to follow God.
13 Y que el impío no tendrá bien, ni le serán prolongados los días, [que son] como sombra; por cuanto no temió delante de la presencia de Dios.
14 Another thing that is hard to understand is this: good people are treated as the wicked should be, and the wicked are treated as good people should be. As I say, this is difficult to comprehend!
14 Hay vanidad que se hace sobre la tierra: que hay justos á quienes sucede como [si hicieran] obras de impíos; y hay impíos á quienes acaece como [si hicieran] obras de justos. Digo que esto también es vanidad.
15 So I recommend enjoying life. There's nothing better for us here on earth than to eat and drink and be happy. Such an attitude will go with us as we work, and as we live our lives that God gives us here on earth.
15 Por tanto alabé yo la alegría; que no tiene el hombre bien debajo del sol, sino que coma y beba, y se alegre; y que esto se le quede de su trabajo los días de su vida que Dios le dió debajo del sol.
16 When I applied my mind to discovering wisdom and observing everything people do here on earth, I couldn't get any sleep, day or night.
16 Yo pues dí mi corazón á conocer sabiduría, y á ver la faena que se hace sobre la tierra; (porque hay quien ni de noche ni de día ve sueño en su ojos;)
17 Then I studied everything God does, and I realized that no one can fully understand what happens here. However hard they try, however wise they claim to be, they can't really comprehend it.
17 Y he visto todas las obras de Dios, que el hombre no puede alcanzar la obra que debajo del sol se hace; por mucho que trabaje el hombre buscándola, no la hallará: aunque diga el sabio que la sabe, no por eso podrá alcanzarla.
Cross references (17)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 Acts 6:15; Deuteronomy 28:50; 2 Peter 1:20; Proverbs 24:5; Proverbs 17:24
- 2 Proverbs 24:21; Titus 3:1; 1 Peter 2:13–17; 1 Kings 2:43; Romans 13:1–5
- 3 Ecclesiastes 10:4; Daniel 4:35; Acts 5:8–9; Daniel 5:19; Proverbs 14:29
- 4 Romans 13:1–4; Job 9:12; Proverbs 20:2; Daniel 4:35; Romans 9:20
- 5 Hebrews 5:14; 1 Peter 3:13–14; Philippians 1:9–10; Acts 4:19; Luke 20:25
- 6 Ecclesiastes 3:1; Ecclesiastes 3:17; Luke 19:42–44; Ecclesiastes 3:11; Luke 17:26–30
- 7 Ecclesiastes 10:14; Ecclesiastes 9:12; Matthew 24:50; Ecclesiastes 6:12; Proverbs 24:22
- 8 Psalm 89:48; Job 14:5; Hebrews 9:27; Psalm 49:6–9; Ecclesiastes 3:21
- 9 Ecclesiastes 5:8; Ecclesiastes 4:7–8; Ecclesiastes 5:13; Ecclesiastes 3:10; Ecclesiastes 7:25
- 10 Ecclesiastes 2:16; Proverbs 10:7; Ecclesiastes 9:5; Job 21:32–33; Jeremiah 17:13
- 11 Isaiah 26:10; Psalm 50:21–22; Romans 2:4–5; 2 Peter 3:3–10; Matthew 24:49–50
- 12 Psalm 37:11; Luke 1:50; 2 Peter 2:9; Psalm 37:18–19; Ecclesiastes 7:15
- 13 Ecclesiastes 6:12; Isaiah 3:11; Job 14:2; Malachi 3:18; Isaiah 57:21
- 14 Ecclesiastes 7:15; Malachi 3:15; Ecclesiastes 2:14; Ecclesiastes 9:1–3; Psalm 73:3
- 15 Ecclesiastes 2:24; Ecclesiastes 5:18; Ecclesiastes 3:12–13; Ecclesiastes 9:7–9; Ecclesiastes 3:22
- 16 Ecclesiastes 2:23; Ecclesiastes 1:13; Psalm 127:2; Ecclesiastes 8:7; Ecclesiastes 8:9
- 17 Ecclesiastes 3:11; Psalm 73:16; Romans 11:33; Isaiah 40:28; Job 11:7–9
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
… 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." This wisest man devoted this whole book to a full exposure of this vanity, evidently …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 2 (1887)