Ecclesiastes 7:15

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Ecclesiastes 7:13–17 · Berean Standard Bible

13 Consider the work of God: Who can straighten what He has bent?

14 In the day of prosperity, be joyful, but in the day of adversity, consider this: God has made one of these along with the other, so that a man cannot discover anything that will come after him.

15 In my futile life I have seen both of these: A righteous man perishing in his righteousness, and a wicked man living long in his wickedness.

16 Do not be overly righteous, and do not make yourself too wise. Why should you destroy yourself?

17 Do not be excessively wicked, and do not be a fool. Why should you die before your time?

Hebrew words

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Cross-references

The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge lists these related verses. Scripture text comes from the Berean Standard Bible.

Ecclesiastes 2:23

Indeed, all his days are filled with grief, and his task is sorrowful; even at night, his mind does not rest. This too is futile.

Ecclesiastes 5:16

This too is a grievous evil: Exactly as a man is born, so he will depart. What does he gain as he toils for the wind?

Ecclesiastes 5:17

Moreover, all his days he eats in darkness, with much sorrow, sickness, and anger.

Ecclesiastes 6:12

For who knows what is good for a man during the few days in which he passes through his fleeting life like a shadow? Who can tell a man what will come after him under the sun?

Genesis 47:9

“My travels have lasted 130 years,” Jacob replied. “My years have been few and hard, and they have not matched the years of the travels of my fathers.”

Psalms 39:6

Surely every man goes about like a phantom; surely he bustles in vain; he heaps up riches not knowing who will haul them away.

Ecclesiastes 3:16

Furthermore, I saw under the sun that in the place of judgment there is wickedness, and in the place of righteousness there is wickedness.

Ecclesiastes 8:14

There is a futility that is done on the earth: There are righteous men who get what the actions of the wicked deserve, and there are wicked men who get what the actions of the righteous deserve. I say that this too is futile.

Ecclesiastes 9:1

So I took all this to heart and concluded that the righteous and the wise, as well as their deeds, are in God’s hands. Man does not know what lies ahead, whether love or hate.

Ecclesiastes 9:2

It is the same for all: There is a common fate for the righteous and the wicked, for the good and the bad, for the clean and the unclean, for the one who sacrifices and the one who does not. As it is for the good, so it is for the sinner; as it is for the one who makes a vow, so it is for the one who refuses to take a vow.

1 Samuel 22:18

So the king ordered Doeg, “You turn and strike down the priests!” And Doeg the Edomite turned and struck down the priests himself. On that day he killed eighty-five men who wore the linen ephod.

1 Samuel 22:19

He also put to the sword Nob, the city of the priests, with its men and women, children and infants, oxen, donkeys, and sheep.

1 Kings 21:13

And the two scoundrels came in and sat opposite Naboth, and these men testified against him before the people, saying, “Naboth has cursed both God and the king!” So they took him outside the city and stoned him to death.

2 Chronicles 24:21

But they conspired against Zechariah, and by order of the king, they stoned him in the courtyard of the house of the LORD.

2 Chronicles 24:22

Thus King Joash failed to remember the kindness that Zechariah’s father Jehoiada had extended to him. Instead, Joash killed Jehoiada’s son. As he lay dying, Zechariah said, “May the LORD see this and call you to account.”

Job 9:22

It is all the same, and so I say, ‘He destroys both the blameless and the wicked.’

Job 9:23

When the scourge brings sudden death, He mocks the despair of the innocent.

Matthew 23:34

Because of this, I am sending you prophets and wise men and teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify, and others you will flog in your synagogues and persecute in town after town.

Matthew 23:35

And so upon you will come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.

John 16:2

They will put you out of the synagogues. In fact, a time is coming when anyone who kills you will think he is offering a service to God.

Acts 7:52

Which of the prophets did your fathers fail to persecute? They even killed those who foretold the coming of the Righteous One. And now you are His betrayers and murderers—

Ecclesiastes 8:12

Although a sinner does evil a hundred times and still lives long, yet I also know that it will go well with those who fear God, who are reverent in His presence.

Ecclesiastes 8:13

Yet because the wicked do not fear God, it will not go well with them, and their days will not lengthen like a shadow.

Job 21:7

Why do the wicked live on, growing old and increasing in power?

Job 21:8

Their descendants are established around them, and their offspring before their eyes.

Job 21:9

Their homes are safe from fear; no rod of punishment from God is upon them.

Job 21:10

Their bulls breed without fail; their cows bear calves and do not miscarry.

Job 21:11

They send forth their little ones like a flock; their children skip about,

Job 21:12

singing to the tambourine and lyre and making merry at the sound of the flute.

Job 21:13

They spend their days in prosperity and go down to Sheol in peace.

Job 21:14

Yet they say to God: ‘Leave us alone! For we have no desire to know Your ways.

Job 21:15

Who is the Almighty, that we should serve Him, and what would we gain if we pray to Him?’

Psalms 73:3

For I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

Psalms 73:4

They have no struggle in their death; their bodies are well-fed.

Psalms 73:5

They are free of the burdens others carry; they are not afflicted like other men.

Psalms 73:6

Therefore pride is their necklace; a garment of violence covers them.

Psalms 73:7

From their prosperity proceeds iniquity; the imaginations of their hearts run wild.

Psalms 73:8

They mock and speak with malice; with arrogance they threaten oppression.

Psalms 73:9

They set their mouths against the heavens, and their tongues strut across the earth.

Psalms 73:10

So their people return to this place and drink up waters in abundance.

Psalms 73:11

The wicked say, “How can God know? Does the Most High have knowledge?”

Psalms 73:12

Behold, these are the wicked— always carefree as they increase their wealth.

Psalms 73:13

Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure; in innocence I have washed my hands.

Isaiah 65:20

No longer will a nursing infant live but a few days, or an old man fail to live out his years. For the youth will die at a hundred years, and he who fails to reach a hundred will be considered accursed.

Jeremiah 12:1

Righteous are You, O LORD, when I plead before You. Yet about Your judgments I wish to contend with You: Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all the faithless live at ease?

Jeremiah 12:2

You planted them, and they have taken root. They have grown and produced fruit. You are ever on their lips, but far from their hearts.