Ecclesiastes · Unlocked Literal Bible
Ecclesiastes 8 Unlocked Literal Bible
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
ULB Unlocked Literal Bible
RV1909 Reina-Valera 1909
WEB World English Bible (Classic, with Deuterocanon)
1 Who is a wise man? Who knows what the events in life mean? Wisdom in a man causes his face to shine, and the hardness of his face is 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.
1 Who is like the wise man? And who knows the interpretation of a thing? A man’s wisdom makes his face shine, and the hardness of his face is changed.
2 I advise you to obey the king's command because of God's oath to protect him.
2 Yo [te aviso] que guardes el mandamiento del rey y la palabra del juramento de Dios.
2 I say, “Keep the king’s command!” because of the oath to God.
3 Do not hurry out of his presence, and do not stand in support of something wrong, for the king does whatever he desires.
3 No te apresures á irte de delante de él, ni en cosa mala persistas; porque él hará todo lo que quisiere:
3 Don’t be hasty to go out of his presence. Don’t persist in an evil thing, for he does whatever pleases him,
4 The king's word rules, so who will say to him, “What are you doing?”
4 Pues la palabra del rey [es con] potestad, ¿y quién le dirá, Qué haces?
4 for the king’s word is supreme. Who can say to him, “What are you doing?”
5 Whoever keeps the king's commands avoids harm. A wise man's heart recognizes the proper course and time of action.
5 El que guarda el mandamiento no experimentará mal; y el tiempo y el juicio conoce el corazón del sabio.
5 Whoever keeps the commandment shall not come to harm, and his wise heart will know the time and procedure.
6 For every matter there is a correct response and a time to respond, because the troubles of man are great.
6 Porque para todo lo que quisieres hay tiempo y juicio; mas el trabajo del hombre es grande sobre él;
6 For there is a time and procedure for every purpose, although the misery of man is heavy on him.
7 No one knows what is coming next. Who can tell him what is coming?
7 Porque no sabe lo que ha de ser; y el cuándo haya de ser, ¿quién se lo enseñará?
7 For he doesn’t know that which will be; for who can tell him how it will be?
8 No one is ruler over his breath so as to stop the breath, and no one has power over the day of his death. No one is discharged from the army during a battle, and wickedness will not rescue those who are its slaves.
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.
8 There is no man who has power over the spirit to contain the spirit; neither does he have power over the day of death. There is no discharge in war; neither shall wickedness deliver those who practice it.
9 I have realized all this; I have applied my heart to every kind of work that is done under the sun. There is a time when a person oppresses another person to that person's 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.
9 All this I have seen, and applied my mind to every work that is done under the sun. There is a time in which one man has power over another to his hurt.
10 So I saw the wicked buried publicly. They were taken from the holy area and buried and were praised by people in the city where they had done their wicked deeds. This also is uselessness.
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.
10 So I saw the wicked buried. Indeed they came also from holiness. They went and were forgotten in the city where they did this. This also is vanity.
11 When a sentence against an evil crime is not executed quickly, it entices the hearts of human beings 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.
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.
12 Even though a sinner does evil a hundred times and still lives a long time, yet I know that it will be better for those who respect God, for those who stand before him and show him respect.
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;
12 Though a sinner commits crimes a hundred times, and lives long, yet surely I know that it will be better with those who fear God, who are reverent before him.
13 But it will not go well for a wicked man; his life will not be prolonged. His days are like a fleeting shadow because he does not honor 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.
13 But it shall not be well with the wicked, neither shall he lengthen days like a shadow, because he doesn’t fear God.
14 There is another useless vapor—something else that is done on the earth. Things happen to righteous people as they happen to wicked people, and things happen to wicked people as they happen to righteous people. I say that this also is useless vapor.
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.
14 There is a vanity which is done on the earth, that there are righteous men to whom it happens according to the work of the wicked. Again, there are wicked men to whom it happens according to the work of the righteous. I said that this also is vanity.
15 So I recommend happiness, because a man has no better thing under the sun than to eat and drink and to be happy. It is happiness that will accompany him in his labor for all the days of his life that God has given 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.
15 Then I commended mirth, because a man has no better thing under the sun than to eat, to drink, and to be joyful: for that will accompany him in his labor all the days of his life which God has given him under the sun.
16 When I applied my heart to know wisdom and to understand the work that is done on the earth, work often done without sleep for the eyes at night or in the day,
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;)
16 When I applied my heart to know wisdom, and to see the business that is done on the earth (even though eyes see no sleep day or night),
17 then I considered all of God's deeds, and that man cannot understand the work that is done under the sun. No matter how much a man labors to find the answers, he will not find them. Even though a wise man might believe he knows, he really does not.
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.
17 then I saw all the work of God, that man can’t find out the work that is done under the sun, because however much a man labors to seek it out, yet he won’t find it. Yes even though a wise man thinks he can comprehend it, he won’t be able to find it.
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)