Ecclésiaste 8:14

14 Il est une vanité qui a lieu sur la terre: c'est qu'il y a des justes auxquels il arrive selon l'oeuvre des méchants, et des méchants auxquels il arrive selon l'oeuvre des justes. Je dis que c'est encore là une vanité.

Ecclésiaste 8:14 Meaning and Commentary

Ecclesiastes 8:14

There is a vanity which is done upon the earth
Transacted in this lower world under the sun, through the permission and direction of divine Providence; not that it is a vanity on the part of God, who has wise ends to answer by it, for the good of his people, the trial of their graces or to bring sinners to repentance, or harden them in sin; but this shows the vanity and uncertainty of all worldly things, and that there is no happiness to be had in them; that there be just [men], unto whom it happeneth according to the work
of the wicked:
to whom evil comes, as the Targum and Jarchi; who are treated as if they were wicked men, and dealt with in providence as sinners would be, if they had the just desert of their wicked works; being attended with poverty, sickness, and disgrace, and other calamities of life, as Job, Asaph, Lazarus, and others, and yet truly righteous and good men; again, there be wicked [men] to whom it happeneth according to the
work of the righteous;
to whom good things come, as the Targum and Jarchi; who have an affluence of good things, all the outward blessings of life, as health, wealth, honour, long life as if they had lived the best of lives, and were the most righteous persons upon earth; see ( Job 21:7-13 ) ( Psalms 73:4 Psalms 73:5 Psalms 73:7 ) ( Luke 16:19 ) ; I said, that this also [is] vanity;
this is said, as some think, according to the judgment of corrupt nature; or as it is apprehended by such who do not rightly consider the judgments of God and the wisdom of Providence in the ordering of things to answer good purposes; or rather the sense is, this is one of the miseries and infelicities of this life, and which demonstrates the emptiness of all things here below, and that the chief good and supreme happiness is not to be had here; but there is and must be a future state, when all things will be set right, and everyone will have and enjoy his proper portion.

Ecclésiaste 8:14 In-Context

12 Cependant, quoique le pécheur fasse cent fois le mal et qu'il y persévère longtemps, je sais aussi que le bonheur est pour ceux qui craignent Dieu, parce qu'ils ont de la crainte devant lui.
13 Mais le bonheur n'est pas pour le méchant, et il ne prolongera point ses jours, pas plus que l'ombre, parce qu'il n'a pas de la crainte devant Dieu.
14 Il est une vanité qui a lieu sur la terre: c'est qu'il y a des justes auxquels il arrive selon l'oeuvre des méchants, et des méchants auxquels il arrive selon l'oeuvre des justes. Je dis que c'est encore là une vanité.
15 J'ai donc loué la joie, parce qu'il n'y a de bonheur pour l'homme sous le soleil qu'à manger et à boire et à se réjouir; c'est là ce qui doit l'accompagner au milieu de son travail, pendant les jours de vie que Dieu lui donne sous le soleil.
16 Lorsque j'ai appliqué mon coeur à connaître la sagesse et à considérer les choses qui se passent sur la terre, -car les yeux de l'homme ne goûtent le sommeil ni jour ni nuit,
The Louis Segond 1910 is in the public domain.