Whoever keeps his command will come to no harm, and a wise heart knows the right time and procedure.
Parallel translations
- WEB Whoever keeps the commandment shall not come to harm, and his wise heart will know the time and procedure.
- KJV Whoso keepeth the commandment shall feel no evil thing: and a wise man’s heart discerneth both time and judgment.
- NKJV He who keeps his command will experience nothing harmful; And a wise man’s heart discerns both time and judgment,
- NASB One who keeps a royal command experiences no trouble, for a wise heart knows the proper time and procedure.
- NLT Those who obey him will not be punished. Those who are wise will find a time and a way to do what is right,
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The one who keeps God's commandment is kept from harm, and a wise heart discerns the right time and way to act. Obedience and discernment go hand in hand in the life of wisdom.
Overview
Qoheleth links faithful obedience with the practical wisdom to know 'time and procedure' for action. The wise person reads circumstances rightly and acts accordingly. This echoes the broader scriptural promise that walking in God's ways brings a measure of protection and good judgment (Psalm 119:98-100), fully embodied in Christ who always discerned his Father's timing (John 7:6).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 19
- Heb 5:14But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained their senses to distinguish good from evil.
- 1 Pet 3:13–14Who can harm you if you are zealous for what is good?
- Phil 1:9–10And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight,
- Acts 4:19But Peter and John replied, “Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God’s sight to listen to you rather than God.
- Rom 13:5–7Therefore it is necessary to submit to authority, not only to avoid punishment, but also as a matter of conscience.
- 1 Chr 12:32From Issachar, men who understood the times and knew what Israel should do: 200 chiefs with all their kinsmen at their command.
- Luke 20:25So Jesus told them, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”
- Hos 5:11Ephraim is oppressed, crushed in judgment, for he is determined to follow worthless idols.
- Eccl 8:2Keep the king’s command, I say, because of your oath before God.
- 1 Cor 2:14–15The natural man does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God. For they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.
- Eccl 2:14The wise man has eyes in his head, but the fool walks in darkness. Yet I also came to realize that one fate overcomes them both.
- Exod 1:17The midwives, however, feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt had instructed; they let the boys live.
- Eccl 10:2A wise man’s heart inclines to the right, but the heart of a fool to the left.
- Acts 5:29But Peter and the other apostles replied, “We must obey God rather than men.
- Luke 12:56–57You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and sky. Why don’t you know how to interpret the present time?
- Prov 17:24Wisdom is the focus of the discerning, but the eyes of a fool wander to the ends of the earth.
- Exod 1:20–21So God was good to the midwives, and the people multiplied and became even more numerous.
- Col 1:9For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding,
- Ps 119:6Then I would not be ashamed when I consider all Your commandments.
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Christ at the center
The search that finds everything 'under the sun' to be vapor exposes the emptiness of life without God and drives us to the one who alone gives meaning, the resurrection that makes our labor not in vain.
How Ecclesiastes 8:5 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.