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Ecclesiastes 8:13

in Ecclesiastes 8

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

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

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.

KJV

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.

This verse in Ecclesiastes 8

Commentary

7 notes on this verse

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

But it shall not be well with the wicked - Let not the long-spared sinner presume that, because sentence is not speedily executed on his evil works, and he is suffered to go on to his hundredth transgression, God has forgotten to punish. No, he feareth not before Good; and therefore he shall not ultimately escape.

This site's exposition

Although a sinner does evil a hundred times

on Ecclesiastes 8:12-13

The Teacher answers verse 11: Although a sinner does evil and still lives long, he knows it will go well with those who fear God. The wicked do not fear God, and their days will not lengthen like a shadow. The two verses hold both truths without resolving them.

This site's exposition

the wicked do not fear God

Clarke warns the long-spared sinner against reading slow sentence as God's forgetting. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown place the delay in man's short sight: it gives the sinner room to repent and the saints room for patience. The shadow image returns from 6:12.

The record, by era

The Church Fathers1 voice

A commentator

Jerome

Commentary on Ecclesiastes · Written before 420.

proposed

"And it will not be well with the wicked, and he will not live long-like a shadow-because he does not fear God. "He invokes wickedness upon those who do not fear God, and desires that they do not wait long for their punishment, but rather are crucified and immediately put to death, this punishment is for those who merit such a death.

The Medieval Church1 voice

A commentator

Bonaventure

Commentary on Ecclesiastes, Chapter 8 · Written in the 13th century.

proposed

But this benefit of divine mercy and patience does not extend to the wicked; and therefore it is more profitable for them to die than to live. — Therefore he says: Let there not be good for the wicked: he says this not by way …

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

But it shall not be well with the wicked,....

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

proposed

God's delay (Ec 8:11) exists only in man's short-sighted view. It gives scope to the sinner to repent, or else to fill up his full measure of guilt; and so, in either case, tends to the final vindication of God's ways. It gives exercise to the faith, patience, and perseverance of saints. shadow-- (Ec 6:12;

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens

How the passage was read

What the Jewish commentators add

And it will not be well with the wicked. Because he does not fear God. 27 Based on this verse, the Gemara in Kiddushin 33b states that any scholar who does not rise before his teacher is considered wicked, will not live long and will forget his learning.
Rashi: France, 1040–1105 · Rashi on Ecclesiastes 8:13:1, via Sefaria, The Metsudah Five Megillot, Lakewood, N.J., 2001
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
Though a sinner, etc. Because they see that the sinner does evil a hundred thousand and myriads [of times], and the Holy One, Blessed Is He, grants him an extension without meting out retribution.
Rashi: France, 1040–1105 · Rashi on Ecclesiastes 8:12:1, via Sefaria, The Metsudah Five Megillot, Lakewood, N.J., 2001

This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.

Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 2 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.

The words behind it

13 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • וְטוֹב֙and good

    vetovH2896 →538 times

  • לֹֽא־not

    lo'-H3808 →5168 times

  • יִהְיֶ֣הit will belong

    yihyehH1961 →3559 times

  • לָֽרָשָׁ֔עto the wicked

    larasha'H7563 →263 times

  • וְלֹֽא־and not

    velo'-H3808 →5168 times

  • יַאֲרִ֥יךְhe will prolong

    yaarikhH748 →34 times

  • יָמִ֖יםdays

    yamimH3117 →2304 times

  • כַּצֵּ֑לlike <the> shadow

    katzelH6738 →49 times

  • אֲשֶׁ֛רthat

    ʾasherH834 →5497 times

  • אֵינֶ֥נּוּnot he

    ʾeinenuH369 →789 times

  • יָרֵ֖אhe has feared

    yare'H3373 →64 times

  • מִלִּפְנֵ֥יfrom to before

    milifneiH6440 →2123 times

  • אֱלֹהִֽים׃God

    ʾelohimH430 →2601 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    Job 14:2

    Like a flower, he comes forth, then withers away; like a fleeting shadow, he does not endure.

    it leads to

    • Isaiah 40:6–8

      A voice says, “Cry out!” And I asked, “What should I cry out?” “All flesh is like grass, and all its glory like the flowers of the field.

    • 1 Peter 1:24

      For, “All flesh is like grass, and all its glory like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall,

    • Job 8:9

      For we were born yesterday and know nothing; our days on earth are but a shadow.

    • Psalms 103:15–16

      As for man, his days are like grass— he blooms like a flower of the field;

    • 1 Chronicles 29:15

      For we are foreigners and strangers in Your presence, as were all our forefathers. Our days on earth are like a shadow, without hope.

  • Through

    Isaiah 57:21

    “There is no peace,” says my God, “for the wicked.”

    it leads to

    • Isaiah 48:22

      “There is no peace,” says the LORD, “for the wicked.”

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

  • Through

    Malachi 3:18

    So you will again distinguish between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not.”

    it leads to

    • Matthew 25:46

      And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

    • Genesis 18:25

      Far be it from You to do such a thing—to kill the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike. Far be it from You! Will not the…

Where this verse is studied

About Ecclesiastes

King Solomon in Old Age, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
King Solomon in Old Age, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Bonaventure, Commentary on Ecclesiastes, Chapter 8; Charles Bridges, An Exposition of the Book of Ecclesiastes; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Ecclesiastes; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament and John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763).