New King James Version

Ecclesiastes 8:12-17 New King James Version (NKJV)

12. Though a sinner does evil a hundred times, and his days are prolonged, yet I surely know that it will be well with those who fear God, who fear before Him.

13. But it will not be well with the wicked; nor will he prolong his days, which are as a shadow, because he does not fear before God.

14. There is a vanity which occurs on earth, that there are just men to whom it happens according to the work of the wicked; again, there are wicked men to whom it happens according to the work of the righteous. I said that this also is vanity.

15. So I commended enjoyment, because a man has nothing better under the sun than to eat, drink, and be merry; for this will remain with him in his labor all the days of his life which God gives him under the sun.

16. When I applied my heart to know wisdom and to see the business that is done on earth, even though one sees no sleep day or night,

17. then I saw all the work of God, that a man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun. For though a man labors to discover it, yet he will not find it; moreover, though a wise man attempts to know it, he will not be able to find it.