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Ecclesiastes 8:13

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13 Yet because the wicked do not fear God, it will not go well with them, and their days will not lengthen like a shadow.
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Ecclesiastes 8:13 in Other Translations

KJV
13 But it shall not be well with the wicked, neither shall he prolong his days, which are as a shadow; because he feareth not before God.
ESV
13 But it will not be well with the wicked, neither will he prolong his days like a shadow, because he does not fear before God.
NLT
13 The wicked will not prosper, for they do not fear God. Their days will never grow long like the evening shadows.
MSG
13 and that the evil person will not experience a "good" life. No matter how many days he lives, they'll all be as flat and colorless as a shadow - because he doesn't fear God.
CSB
13 However, it will not go well with the wicked, and they will not lengthen their days like a shadow, for they are not reverent before God.

Ecclesiastes 8:13 Meaning and Commentary

Ecclesiastes 8:13

But it shall not be well with the wicked
It shall be ill with him; more is designed than is expressed, ( Isaiah 3:11 ) ; in life they have no solid peace and comfort; at death they will be turned into at judgment they will hear the awful sentence, "Go, ye cursed", and will be in torment to all eternity, ( Matthew 25:41 ) ; neither shall he prolong [his] days, [which are] as a shadow:
wicked men sometimes do not live out half their days, which, according to the course of nature, and common term of life, they might be thought to live; or if they prolong their days in wickedness, as sometimes they do, ( Ecclesiastes 7:15 ) ; yet their days at longest are but a shadow which declines, and is quickly gone; or, however, they do not attain to eternal life, which is sometimes meant by prolonging days, and is length of days for ever and ever, ( Isaiah 53:10 ) ( Psalms 21:4 ) ; this they never enjoy; but when the righteous go into life lasting, they go into everlasting punishment. The reason of this is, because he feareth not before God;
the fear of God is not before his eyes, nor in his heart; he goes on in sin without fear of him, boldly and openly commits it, and instead of taking shame for it, or repenting of it, glories in it; stretches out his hand against God, and bids defiance to him, and desires not the knowledge of him, and refuses to obey him The Targum of the whole is,

``and it shall not be well with the wicked, and he shall have no space in the world to come; and in this world his days shall be cut off, and they shall flee and pass away as a shadow, because he fears not God.''
Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Ecclesiastes 8:13 In-Context

11 When the sentence for a crime is not quickly carried out, people’s hearts are filled with schemes to do wrong.
12 Although a wicked person who commits a hundred crimes may live a long time, I know that it will go better with those who fear God, who are reverent before him.
13 Yet because the wicked do not fear God, it will not go well with them, and their days will not lengthen like a shadow.
14 There is something else meaningless that occurs on earth: the righteous who get what the wicked deserve, and the wicked who get what the righteous deserve. This too, I say, is meaningless.
15 So I commend the enjoyment of life, because there is nothing better for a person under the sun than to eat and drink and be glad. Then joy will accompany them in their toil all the days of the life God has given them under the sun.

Cross References 2

  • 1. Ecclesiastes 3:14; Isaiah 3:11
  • 2. Deuteronomy 4:40; Job 5:26; Psalms 34:12; Isaiah 65:20
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