Ecclesiastes · King James Version (with Apocrypha)
Ecclesiastes 8 King James Version (with Apocrypha)
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
1 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 boldness of his face shall be changed.
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 I [counsel thee] to keep the king’s commandment, and [that] in regard of the oath of God.
2 Yo [te aviso] que guardes el mandamiento del rey y la palabra del juramento de Dios.
3 Be not hasty to go out of his sight: stand not in an evil thing; for he doeth whatsoever pleaseth him.
3 No te apresures á irte de delante de él, ni en cosa mala persistas; porque él hará todo lo que quisiere:
4 Where the word of a king [is, there is] power: and who may say unto him, What doest thou?
4 Pues la palabra del rey [es con] potestad, ¿y quién le dirá, Qué haces?
5 Whoso keepeth the commandment shall feel no evil thing: and a wise man’s heart discerneth both time and judgment.
5 El que guarda el mandamiento no experimentará mal; y el tiempo y el juicio conoce el corazón del sabio.
6 ¶ Because to every purpose there is time and judgment, therefore the misery of man [is] great upon him.
6 Porque para todo lo que quisieres hay tiempo y juicio; mas el trabajo del hombre es grande sobre él;
7 For he knoweth not that which shall be: for who can tell him when it shall be?
7 Porque no sabe lo que ha de ser; y el cuándo haya de ser, ¿quién se lo enseñará?
8 [There 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.
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 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 ruleth over another to his own hurt.
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 And 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.
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 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.
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 ¶ Though 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:
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 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.
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 There 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.
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 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 of his labour the days of his life, which God giveth him under the sun.
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 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:)
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 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].
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)