God's Righteous Judgment

2 Therefore you have ^(A)no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For ^(B)in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things. ² We know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who practice such things. ³ Do you suppose, O man—you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself—that you will escape the judgment of God? ⁴ Or do you presume on ^(C)the riches of his kindness and ^(D)forbearance and ^(E)patience, ^(F)not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? ⁵ But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are ^(G)storing up ^(H)wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God's righteous judgment will be revealed.

^6 (I)He will render to each one according to his works: ⁷ to those who ^(J)by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; ⁸ but for those who are self-seeking^[a] and ^(K)do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury. ⁹ There will be tribulation and distress ^(L)for every human being who does evil, the Jew ^(M)first and also the Greek, ¹⁰ but glory and honor and ^(N)peace for everyone who does good, ^(O)the Jew first and also the Greek. ¹¹ For ^(P)God shows no partiality.

Those Who Fear God Will Do Well

¹⁰ Then I saw the wicked buried. They used to go in and out of ^(A)the holy place and were ^(B)praised^[a] in the city where they had done such things. This also is vanity.^{[b] 11} Because ^(C)the sentence against an evil deed is not executed speedily, ^(D)the heart of the children of man is fully set to do evil. ¹² Though a sinner does evil a hundred times and ^(E)prolongs his life, yet I know that ^(F)it will be well with ^(G)those who fear God, because they fear before him. ¹³ But it will ^(H)not be well with the wicked, neither will he prolong his days like ^(I)a shadow, because he does not fear before God.

Man Cannot Know God's Ways

¹⁴ There is a vanity that takes place on earth, that there are righteous people ^(J)to whom it happens according to the deeds of the wicked, and there are wicked people ^(K)to whom it happens according to the deeds of the righteous. I said that this also is vanity. ¹⁵ And I commend joy, for man ^(L)has nothing better under the sun but to ^(M)eat and drink and be joyful, for this will go with him in his toil through the days of his life that God has given him under the sun.

¹⁶ When I applied my heart to know wisdom, and to see ^(N)the business that is done on earth, how neither ^(O)day nor night do one's eyes see sleep, ¹⁷ then I saw all the work of God, that ^(P)man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun. However much man may toil in seeking, he will not find it out. Even though a wise man claims to know, ^(Q)he cannot find it out.