Yet no one knows what will happen(A) because who can tell him what will happen? No one has authority over the wind[a] to restrain it,(B) and there is no authority over the day of death;(C) no one is discharged during battle, and wickedness will not allow those who practice it to escape. All this I have seen, applying my mind to all the work that is done under the sun, at a time when one person has authority over another to his harm.

10 In such circumstances, I saw the wicked buried. They came and went from the holy place,(D) and they were praised[b] in the city where they did those things. This too is futile. 11 Because the sentence against an evil act is not carried out quickly,(E) the heart of people is filled with the desire to commit evil. 12 Although a sinner does evil a hundred times and prolongs his life,(F) I also know that it will go well with God-fearing people,(G) for they are reverent before him. 13 However, it will not go well with the wicked,(H) and they will not lengthen their days like a shadow,(I) for they are not reverent before God.

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Footnotes

  1. 8:8 Or life-breath
  2. 8:10 Some Hb mss, LXX, Aq, Theod, Sym; other Hb mss read forgotten

Indeed, how can people avoid what they don’t know is going to happen? None of us can hold back our spirit from departing. None of us has the power to prevent the day of our death. There is no escaping that obligation, that dark battle. And in the face of death, wickedness will certainly not rescue the wicked.

The Wicked and the Righteous

I have thought deeply about all that goes on here under the sun, where people have the power to hurt each other. 10 I have seen wicked people buried with honor. Yet they were the very ones who frequented the Temple and are now praised[a] in the same city where they committed their crimes! This, too, is meaningless. 11 When a crime is not punished quickly, people feel it is safe to do wrong. 12 But even though a person sins a hundred times and still lives a long time, I know that those who fear God will be better off. 13 The wicked will not prosper, for they do not fear God. Their days will never grow long like the evening shadows.

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Footnotes

  1. 8:10 As in some Hebrew manuscripts and Greek version; many Hebrew manuscripts read and are forgotten.