Obey the King

8 Who is like the wise man? Who knows the interpretation of a matter? A man’s wisdom brightens his face, and the sternness of his face is changed.

2 Keep the king’s command, I say, because of your oath before God. 3 Do not hasten to leave his presence, and do not persist in a bad cause, for he will do whatever he pleases. 4 For the king’s word is supreme, and who can say to him, “What are you doing?”

5 Whoever keeps his command will come to no harm, and a wise heart knows the right time and procedure. 6 For there is a right time and procedure to every purpose, though a man’s misery weighs heavily upon him. 7 Since no one knows what will happen, who can tell him what is to come?

8 As no man has power over the wind to contain [it], so no one has authority over [his] day of death. As no one can be discharged in wartime, so wickedness will not release those who practice it. 9 All this I have seen, applying my mind to every deed that is done under the sun; [there is] a time when one man lords it over another to his own detriment