1 Who is as the wise man? and who is as he who knows the interpretation of all things? The wisdom of this man shall make his face to shine, and the coarseness of his face shall be changed.
2 I counsel thee to keep the king’s commandment and the word of the covenant that thou hast made with God. 3 Do not be hasty to rebel against him; do not persist in any evil thing, for he shall do whatsoever pleases him; 4 because the word of the king is his power and who may say unto him, What doest thou? 5 Whosoever keeps the commandment shall experience no evil thing, and a wise man’s heart discerns both time and judgment. 6 Because for every will there is time and judgment, because the evil of man is great upon him, 7 for he does not know that which shall be; nor when it shall be. Who will teach it to him? 8 There is no man that has power over the spirit to retain the spirit; neither does he have power over the day of death, and weapons are of no use in that war; neither shall wickedness deliver those that are given to it. 9 All this I have seen and applied my heart unto every work that is done under the sun: the time in which one man rules over another to his own hurt.