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 hardness of his face is changed.
There is no man that hath power over the spirit to retain the spirit; neither hath he power over the day of death; and there is no discharge in {cf15i that} war: neither shall wickedness deliver him that is given to it.
All this have I seen, and applied my heart unto every work that is done under the sun: {cf15i there is} a time wherein one man hath power over another to his hurt.
And withal I saw the wicked buried, and they came {cf15i to the grave}; and they that had done right went away from the holy place, and were forgotten in the city: this also is vanity.
Though a sinner do evil an hundred times, and prolong his {cf15i days}, yet surely I know that it shall be well with them that fear God, which fear before him:
There is a vanity which is done upon the earth; that there be righteous 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.
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 in his labour {cf15i all} the days of his life which God hath given him under the sun.
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:)
then I beheld all the work of God, that man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun: because however much a man labour to seek it out, yet he shall not find it; yea moreover, though a wise man think to know it, yet shall he not be able to find it.