Ecclesiastes 8:7-13

GOD’S WORD Translation

⁷ They don’t know what the future will bring. So who can tell them how things will turn out? ⁸ No one has the power to prevent the spirit ^[a] of life from leaving. No one has control over the day of his own death. There is no way to avoid the war ⌞against death⌟. Wickedness will not save wicked people ⌞from dying⌟.

Life Is Unfair

⁹ I have seen all of this, and I have carefully considered all that is done under the sun whenever one person has authority to hurt others. ¹⁰ Then I saw wicked people given an ⌞honorable⌟ burial. They used to go in and out of the holy place. They were praised in the city for doing such things. Even this is pointless.

The Need for Swift Justice

¹¹ When a sentence against a crime isn’t carried out quickly, people are encouraged to commit crimes. ¹² A sinner may commit a hundred crimes and yet live a long life. Still, I know with certainty that it will go well for those who fear God, because they fear him. ¹³ But it will not go well for the wicked. They will not live any longer. Their lives are like shadows, because they don’t fear God.