Ecclesiastes 8:9

⁷ For he knoweth not that which shall be: for who can tell him when it shall be?

⁸ There is no man that hath power over the spirit to retain the spirit; neither hath he power in the day of death: and there is no discharge in that war; neither shall wickedness deliver those that are given to it.

All this have I seen, and applied my heart unto every work that is done under the sun: there is a time wherein one man ruleth over another to his own hurt.

¹⁰ And so I saw the wicked buried, who had come and gone from the place of the holy, and they were forgotten in the city where they had so done: this is also vanity.

¹¹ Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.

Do read the surrounding verses too, because the context often says more than a single verse.

Compare

BSB: 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.
KJV: All this have I seen, and applied my heart unto every work that is done under the sun: there is a time wherein one man ruleth over another to his own hurt.
WEB: All this I have seen, and applied my mind to every work that is done under the sun. There is a time in which one man has power over another to his hurt.
ASV: All this have I seen, and applied my heart unto every work that is done under the sun: [there is] a time wherein one man hath power over another to his hurt.
DARBY: All this have I seen, and applied my heart unto every work that is done under the sun: there is a time when man ruleth man to his hurt.
BLB: All this I have seen, so as to give my heart to every work that is done the under sun; a time that man has ruled over man, for evil unto himself.

ÅB: Alt dette har jeg sett, og jeg har gitt akt på alt det som hender under solen, på en tid da det ene menneske hersket over det andre og voldte ham ulykke.
OTB: Alt dette har jeg observert, ved å anvende mitt sinn på alt som gjøres under solen, i en tid da en person utøver makt over en annen til deres skade.
B1930: Alt dette har jeg sett, og jeg har gitt akt på alt det som hender under solen, på en tid da det ene menneske hersket over det andre og voldte ham ulykke.

Study notes (Tyndale)

Original text and word study

Cross references

Ecclesiastes 5:8
If thou seest the oppression of the poor, and violent perverting of judgment and justice in a province, marvel not at the matter: for he that is higher than the highest regardeth; and there be higher than they.
Read in context
Ecclesiastes 4:7–8
Then I returned, and I saw vanity under the sun.
Read in context
Ecclesiastes 5:13
There is a sore evil which I have seen under the sun, namely, riches kept for the owners thereof to their hurt.
Read in context
Ecclesiastes 3:10
I have seen the travail, which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised in it.
Read in context
Ecclesiastes 7:25
I applied mine heart to know, and to search, and to seek out wisdom, and the reason of things, and to know the wickedness of folly, even of foolishness and madness:
Read in context
2 Kings 14:10–12
Thou hast indeed smitten Edom, and thine heart hath lifted thee up: glory of this, and tarry at home: for why shouldest thou meddle to thy hurt, that thou shouldest fall, even thou, and Judah with thee?
Read in context
Exodus 14:5–9
And it was told the king of Egypt that the people fled: and the heart of Pharaoh and of his servants was turned against the people, and they said, Why have we done this, that we have let Israel go from serving us?
Read in context
Deuteronomy 2:30
But Sihon king of Heshbon would not let us pass by him: for the LORD thy God hardened his spirit, and made his heart obstinate, that he might deliver him into thy hand, as appeareth this day.
Read in context