Because (A)for every matter there is a time and judgment,
Though the misery of man [a]increases greatly.
(B)For he does not know what will happen;
So who can tell him when it will occur?
(C)No one has power over the spirit to retain the spirit,
And no one has power in the day of death.
There is (D)no release from that war,
And wickedness will not deliver those who are given to it.

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.

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Footnotes

  1. Ecclesiastes 8:6 is great upon him

There is a right time and a right way ⌞to act⌟ in every situation. Yet, a terrible human tragedy hangs over people.

They don’t know what the future will bring. So who can tell them how things will turn out? No one has the power to prevent the spirit [a] of life from leaving. No one has control over the day of his own death. There is no way to avoid the war ⌞against death⌟. Wickedness will not save wicked people ⌞from dying⌟.

Life Is Unfair

I have seen all of this, and I have carefully considered all that is done under the sun whenever one person has authority to hurt others.

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Footnotes

  1. 8:8 Or “breath.”