1
Who is like the wise?
Who knows the explanation of things?
A person's wisdom brightens their face
and changes its hard appearance.
2
Obey the king's command, I say, because you took an oath before God.
3
Do not be in a hurry to leave the king's presence. Do not stand up for a bad cause, for he will do whatever he pleases.
4
Since a king's word is supreme, who can say to him, "What are you doing?"
5
Whoever obeys his command will come to no harm,
and the wise heart will know the proper time and procedure.
6
For there is a proper time and procedure for every matter,
though a person may be weighed down by misery.
7
Since no one knows the future,
who can tell someone else what is to come?
8
As no one has power over the wind to contain it,
so 1 no one has power over the time of their death.
As no one is discharged in time of war,
so wickedness will not release those who practice it.
9
All this I saw, as I applied my mind to everything done under the sun. There is a time when a man lords it over others to his own 2 hurt.