Bible Strands
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.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The Preacher addresses a general audience in Ecclesiastes while weighing the apparent contradiction between the prolonged prosperity of sinners and the ultimate fate of the righteous. He speaks this verse to resolve the tension by asserting that wickedness guarantees ruin.
The words — רָשָׁע (ra.Sha') translates to wicked, and צֵל (Tzel) translates to shadow. These terms anchor the verse’s warning that ungodly life is both morally corrupt and transient.
The thread — The shadow metaphor for fleeting life appears in Ecclesiastes 6:12 and Job 14:2, while the reaping of disaster for the wicked echoes Isaiah 3:11. The immediate context in Ecclesiastes 8:12 contrasts this outcome with the promised well-being of those who fear God.
Why it lands — The text demands a practical rejection of delayed consequences as a valid life strategy. It requires readers to align their conduct with reverence for God rather than trusting in temporary safety.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
But it shall not be well with the wicked, neither shall he prolong his days, which are as a shadow; because he feareth not before God.
Cross-references
- 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?
- Job 14:2 Like a flower, he comes forth, then withers away; like a fleeting shadow, he does not endure.
- Isaiah 3:11 Woe to the wicked; disaster is upon them! For they will be repaid with what their hands have done.
- Isaiah 57:21 “There is no peace,” says my God, “for the wicked.”
- Malachi 3:18 So you will again distinguish between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not.”
- Job 7:6 My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle; they come to an end without hope.
- Job 18:5 Indeed, the lamp of the wicked is extinguished; the flame of his fire does not glow.
- Job 20:5 the triumph of the wicked has been brief and the joy of the godless momentary?
- Job 21:30 Indeed, the evil man is spared from the day of calamity, delivered from the day of wrath.
- Psalms 11:5 The LORD tests the righteous and the wicked; His soul hates the lover of violence.