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Text
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Explanation
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| 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. |
Boldness
There is a right kind of boldness. |
2 I counsel thee to
keep the king's commandment, and that in regard of the oath of God.
3 Be not hasty to go
out of his sight: stand not in an evil thing; for he doeth whatsoever pleaseth
him.
4 Where the word of
a king is, there is power: and who may say unto him, What doest thou?
5 Whoso keepeth the
commandment shall feel no evil thing: and a wise man's heart discerneth
both time and judgment.
6 ¶ Because to every
purpose there is time and judgment, therefore the misery of man is great
upon him.
7 For he knoweth not
that which shall be: for who can tell him when it shall be?
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 power to retain the spirit The Hebrew word here means
breath. At death we cannot decide to keep breathing. |
| 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 |
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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
[futility].
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 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:
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. |
11
- Because ... not executed speedily Why does God delay punishment
of evil? To do otherwise would be like forcing good behavior. Obedience
is a response to love. Unlike a church-controlled state, God lets us choose
freely. What magnificent love! |
14 ¶ There is a vanity
[futility] 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.
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. |
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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:)
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. |
Applied
my heart to see Only God knows everything. This is still true
today. |
