Ecclesiastes 8:4

¹²Behold, he snatches away. Who can hinder him? Who will ask him, ‘What are you doing?’

¹Let every soul be in subjection to the higher authorities, for there is no authority except from God, and those who exist are ordained by God. ²Therefore he who resists the authority withstands the ordinance of God; and those who withstand will receive to themselves judgment. ³For rulers are not a terror to the good work, but to the evil. Do you desire to have no fear of the authority? Do that which is good, and you will have praise from the authority, ⁴for he is a servant of God to you for good. But if you do that which is evil, be afraid, for he doesn’t bear the sword in vain; for he is a servant of God, an avenger for wrath to him who does evil.

³⁵All the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing; and he does according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth; and no one can stop his hand, or ask him, “What are you doing?”

²The terror of a king is like the roaring of a lion. He who provokes him to anger forfeits his own life.

²⁰But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed ask him who formed it, “Why did you make me like this?”

¹²The king’s wrath is like the roaring of a lion, but his favor is like dew on the grass.

¹⁸who says to a king, ‘Vile!’ or to nobles, ‘Wicked!’? ¹⁹He doesn’t respect the persons of princes, nor respect the rich more than the poor, for they all are the work of his hands.

²⁹King Solomon was told, “Joab has fled to the LORD’s Tent; and behold, he is by the altar.” Then Solomon sent Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, saying, “Go, fall on him.”

³⁰Benaiah came to the LORD’s Tent, and said to him, “The king says, ‘Come out!’” He said, “No; but I will die here.” Benaiah brought the king word again, saying, “This is what Joab said, and this is how he answered me.”

³¹The king said to him, “Do as he has said, and fall on him, and bury him, that you may take away the blood, which Joab shed without cause, from me and from my father’s house. ³²The LORD will return his blood on his own head, because he fell on two men more righteous and better than he, and killed them with the sword, and my father David didn’t know it: Abner the son of Ner, captain of the army of Israel, and Amasa the son of Jether, captain of the army of Judah. ³³So their blood will return on the head of Joab and on the head of his offspring^[+] forever. But for David, for his offspring, for his house, and for his throne, there will be peace forever from the LORD.”

³⁴Then Benaiah the son of Jehoiada went up and fell on him, and killed him; and he was buried in his own house in the wilderness.

¹²“Behold, I will answer you. In this you are not just, for God is greater than man. ¹³Why do you strive against him, because he doesn’t give account of any of his matters?

⁴“I tell you, my friends, don’t be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. ⁵But I will warn you whom you should fear. Fear him who after he has killed, has power to cast into Gehenna.^[+] Yes, I tell you, fear him.