Help QuickNav Adv. Options
NKJV

NKJV

Click to Change

Return to Top

Return to Top

Printer Icon

Print

Format by: Verse Paragraph
Strong's
Red Letter
Audio Bibles
Cite Print
The Blue Letter Bible

Ecclesiastes 8 :: New King James Version (NKJV)

Choose a new font size and typeface
Audio Bibles
CHAPTER 8
Obey Authorities for God’s Sake
​
1 Who is like a wise man?
​​And who knows the interpretation of a thing?
​​A man’s wisdom makes his face shine,
​​And the sternness of his face is changed.
Obey Authorities for God’s Sake
​
2 I say, “Keep the king’s commandment for the sake of your oath to God. 3 Do not be hasty to go from his presence. Do not take your stand for an evil thing, for he does whatever pleases him.”
​
4 ​​Where the word of a king is, there is power;
​​And who may say to him, “What are you doing?”
5 ​​He who keeps his command will experience nothing harmful;
​​And a wise man’s heart discerns both time and judgment,
6 ​​Because for every matter there is a time and judgment,
​​Though the misery of man increases greatly.
7 ​​For he does not know what will happen;
​​So who can tell him when it will occur?
8 ​​No one has power over the spirit to retain the spirit,
​​And no one has power in the day of death.
​​There is no release from that war,
​​And wickedness will not deliver those who are given to it.
​
9 All this I have seen, and applied my heart to every work that is done under the sun: There is a time in which one man rules over another to his own hurt.
Death Comes to All
10 Then I saw the wicked buried, who had come and gone from the place of holiness, and they were forgotten[fn] in the city where they had so done. This also is vanity. 11 Because the 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 does evil a hundred times, and his days are prolonged, yet I surely know that it will be well with those who fear God, who fear before Him. 13 But it will not be well with the wicked; nor will he prolong his days, which are as a shadow, because he does not fear before God.
14 There is a vanity which occurs on earth, that there are just 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 commended enjoyment, because a man has nothing better under the sun than to eat, drink, and be merry; for this will remain with him in his labor all the days of his life which God gives him under the sun.
16 When I applied my heart to know wisdom and to see the business that is done on earth, even though one sees no sleep day or night, 17 then I saw all the work of God, that a man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun. For though a man labors to discover it, yet he will not find it; moreover, though a wise man attempts to know it, he will not be able to find it.
See the NKJV Preface (Especially for Parenthesis, Brackets, & Asterisks).
NKJV Footnotes
Some Hebrew manuscripts, Septuagint, and Vulgate read praised.
NKJV

New King James Version, © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.

The text of the New King James Version (NKJV) appearing on or deriving from this or any other web page is for personal use only. Any other use of the NKJV must be in conformity with the Quotation Policy for the New King James Version. For more information about the New King James Version, the Quotation Policy, and for inquiries about permission to use the New King James Version, go to Thomas Nelson, Inc..

For more information on this translation, see the NKJV Preface.

BLB Searches
Search the Bible
NKJV
  [?]

Advanced Options

Other Searches

Multi-Verse Retrieval
x
NKJV
Daily Devotionals
x

Blue Letter Bible offers several daily devotional readings in order to help you refocus on Christ and the Gospel of His peace and righteousness.

Daily Bible Reading Plans
x

Recognizing the value of consistent reflection upon the Word of God in order to refocus one's mind and heart upon Christ and His Gospel of peace, we provide several reading plans designed to cover the entire Bible in a year.

One-Year Plans

Two-Year Plan

Ecclesiastes Chapter 8 — Additional Translations:

King James Version New Living Translation New International Version English Standard Version Christian Standard Bible New American Standard Bible 2020 New American Standard Bible 1995 Legacy Standard Bible Amplified Bible New English Translation Revised Standard Version American Standard Version Young's Literal Translation Darby Translation Webster's Bible Hebrew Names Version Latin Vulgate Westminster Leningrad Codex Septuagint Smith Van Dyck Arabic Bible Open New Arabic Version Brenton's English Septuagint Reina Valera 1909 Reina-Valera 1960 Bible in Basic English Chinese Traditional Union Espanol Moderno Korean Holy Bible Louis Segond German Luther Russian Synodal Translation Sagradas Escrituras