Keep the King’s Command

2 I say:¹ Keep the king’s command, because of ^bGod’s oath to him.² 3 Be not hasty to ^cgo from his presence. Do not take your stand in an evil cause, for he does whatever he pleases. 4 For the word of the king is supreme, and ^dwho may say to him, “What are you doing?” 5 Whoever keeps a command will know no evil thing, and the wise heart will know the proper time and the just way.³ 6 For there is a time and a way ^efor everything, although man’s trouble⁴ lies heavy on him. 7 For he ^fdoes not know what is to be, for ^gwho can tell him how it will be? 8 No man has power to ^hretain the spirit, ⁱor power over the day of death. There is no ^jdischarge from war, nor will wickedness deliver those who are given to it. 9 ^kAll this I observed while applying my heart to all that is done under the sun, when man had power over man to his hurt.

Those Who Fear God Will Do Well

10 Then I saw the wicked buried. They used to go in and out of ^lthe holy place and were ^mpraised⁵ in the city where they had done such things. This also is vanity.⁶ 11 Because ⁿthe sentence against an evil deed is not executed speedily, ^othe heart of the children of man is fully set to do evil. 12 Though a sinner does evil a hundred times and ^pprolongs his life, yet I know that ^qit will be well with ^rthose who fear God, because they fear before him. 13 But it will ^snot be well with the wicked, neither will he prolong his days like ^ta shadow, because he does not fear before God.

Man Cannot Know God’s Ways

14 There is a vanity that takes place on earth, that there are righteous people ^uto whom it happens according to the deeds of the wicked, and there are wicked people ^vto whom it happens according to the deeds of the righteous. I said that this also is vanity. 15 And I commend joy, for man ^whas nothing better under the sun but to ^xeat and drink and be joyful, for this will go with him in his toil through the days of his life that God has given him under the sun.

16 When I applied my heart to know wisdom, and to see ^ythe business that is done on earth, how neither ^zday nor night do one’s eyes see sleep, 17 then I saw all the work of God, that ^aman cannot find out the work that is done under the sun. However much man may toil in seeking, he will not find it out. Even though a wise man claims to know, ^bhe cannot find it out.

Jesus Heals a Man Born Blind

1 As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 And his disciples asked him, ^c“Rabbi, ^dwho sinned, ^ethis man or ^fhis parents, that he was born blind?” 3 Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but ^gthat the works of God might be displayed in him. 4 We must ^hwork the works of him who sent me ⁱwhile it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. 5 As long as I am in the world, ^jI am the light of the world.” 6 Having said these things, ^khe spit on the ground and made mud with the saliva. ^lThen he anointed the man’s eyes with the mud 7 and said to him, “Go, wash in ^mthe pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). So he went and washed and ⁿcame back seeing.

8 The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar were saying, ^o“Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?” 9 Some said, “It is he.” Others said, “No, but he is like him.” He kept saying, “I am the man.” 10 So they said to him, “Then how were your eyes opened?” 11 He answered, ^p“The man called Jesus made mud and anointed my eyes and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ So I went and washed and received my sight.” 12 They said to him, “Where is he?” He said, “I do not know.”

13 They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. 14 ^qNow it was a Sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. 15 ^rSo the Pharisees again asked him how he had received his sight. And he said to them, “He put mud on my eyes, and I washed, and I see.” 16 Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not ^sfrom God, ^tfor he does not keep the Sabbath.” But others said, ^u“How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?” And ^vthere was a division among them. 17 So they said again to the blind man, “What do you say about him, since he has opened your eyes?” He said, ^w“He is a prophet.”

18 ^xThe Jews¹ did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight, until they called the parents of the man who had received his sight 19 and asked them, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?” 20 His parents answered, “We know that this is our son and that he was born blind. 21 But how he now sees we do not know, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he is of age. He will speak for himself.” 22 (His parents said these things ^ybecause they feared the Jews, for ^zthe Jews had already agreed that if anyone should ^aconfess Jesus² to be Christ, ^bhe was to be put out of the synagogue.) 23 Therefore his parents said, ^c“He is of age; ask him.”