Ecclesiastes 8:14

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Ecclesiastes 8:12–16 · Berean Standard Bible

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.

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 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.

15 So I commended the enjoyment of life, because there is nothing better for a man under the sun than to eat and drink and be merry. For this joy will accompany him in his labor during the days of his life that God gives him under the sun.

16 When I applied my mind to know wisdom and to observe the task that one performs on the earth—though his eyes do not see sleep in the day or even in the night—

Hebrew words

Data created by STEPBible.org based on work at Tyndale House Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

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Cross-references

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

Ecclesiastes 4:4

I saw that all labor and success spring from a man’s envy of his neighbor. This too is futile and a pursuit of the wind.

Ecclesiastes 4:8

There is a man all alone, without even a son or brother. And though there is no end to his labor, his eyes are still not content with his wealth: “For whom do I toil and bereave my soul of enjoyment?” This too is futile—a miserable task.

Ecclesiastes 9:3

This is an evil in everything that is done under the sun: There is one fate for everyone. Furthermore, the hearts of men are full of evil and madness while they are alive, and afterward they join the dead.

Ecclesiastes 10:5

There is an evil I have seen under the sun— an error that proceeds from the ruler:

Ecclesiastes 2:14

The wise man has eyes in his head, but the fool walks in darkness. Yet I also came to realize that one fate overcomes them both.

Ecclesiastes 7:15

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.

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.

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.

Job 9:24

The earth is given into the hand of the wicked; He blindfolds its judges. If it is not He, then who is it?

Job 21:17

How often is the lamp of the wicked put out? Does disaster come upon them? Does God, in His anger, apportion destruction?

Job 21:18

Are they like straw before the wind, like chaff swept away by a storm?

Job 21:19

It is said that God lays up one’s punishment for his children. Let God repay the man himself, so he will know it.

Job 21:20

Let his eyes see his own destruction; let him drink for himself the wrath of the Almighty.

Job 21:21

For what does he care about his household after him, when the number of his months has run out?

Job 21:22

Can anyone teach knowledge to God, since He judges those on high?

Job 21:23

One man dies full of vigor, completely secure and at ease.

Job 21:24

His body is well nourished, and his bones are rich with marrow.

Job 21:25

Yet another man dies in the bitterness of his soul, having never tasted prosperity.

Job 21:26

But together they lie down in the dust, and worms cover them both.

Job 21:27

Behold, I know your thoughts full well, the schemes by which you would wrong me.

Job 21:28

For you say, ‘Where now is the nobleman’s house, and where are the tents in which the wicked dwell?’

Job 21:29

Have you never asked those who travel the roads? Do you not accept their reports?

Job 21:30

Indeed, the evil man is spared from the day of calamity, delivered from the day of wrath.

Job 21:31

Who denounces his behavior to his face? Who repays him for what he has done?

Job 21:32

He is carried to the grave, and watch is kept over his tomb.

Job 21:33

The clods of the valley are sweet to him; everyone follows behind him, and those before him are without number.

Job 21:34

So how can you comfort me with empty words? For your answers remain full of falsehood.”

Job 24:21

They prey on the barren and childless, and show no kindness to the widow.

Job 24:22

Yet by His power, God drags away the mighty; though rising up, they have no assurance of life.

Job 24:23

He gives them a sense of security, but His eyes are on their ways.

Job 24:24

They are exalted for a moment, then they are gone; they are brought low and gathered up like all others; they are cut off like heads of grain.

Job 24:25

If this is not so, then who can prove me a liar and reduce my words to nothing?”

Psalms 73:13

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

Psalms 73:14

For I am afflicted all day long and punished every morning.

Malachi 3:15

So now we call the arrogant blessed. Not only do evildoers prosper, they even test God and escape.’”