For there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not.
Parallel translations
- WEB Surely there is not a righteous man on earth, who does good and doesn’t sin.
- BSB Surely there is no righteous man on earth who does good and never sins.
- NKJV For there is not a just man on earth who does good And does not sin.
- NASB Indeed, there is not a righteous person on earth who always does good and does not ever sin.
- NLT Not a single person on earth is always good and never sins.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
There is no righteous person on earth who always does good and never sins. It matters because it states the universal reality of human sinfulness.
Overview
The Preacher plainly declares humanity's universal fallenness, a truth echoed throughout Scripture (1 Kings 8:46; Psalm 143:2; Romans 3:10,23). No one is sinless. This honest verdict exposes our need for a righteousness beyond our own, which the gospel supplies: the perfect righteousness of Christ, credited to all who trust in Him (2 Corinthians 5:21).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Rom 3:23For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
- Isa 53:6All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
- 1 Jn 1:8–10If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
- Jas 3:2For in many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body.
- 1 Kgs 8:46If they sin against thee, (for there is no man that sinneth not,) and thou be angry with them, and deliver them to the enemy, so that they carry them away captives unto the land of the enemy, far or near;
- Prov 20:9Who can say, I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin?
- Job 15:14–16What is man, that he should be clean? and he which is born of a woman, that he should be righteous?
- Isa 64:6But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.
- 2 Chr 6:36If they sin against thee, (for there is no man which sinneth not,) and thou be angry with them, and deliver them over before their enemies, and they carry them away captives unto a land far off or near;
- Ps 143:2And enter not into judgment with thy servant: for in thy sight shall no man living be justified.
- Ps 130:3If thou, LORD, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
The search that finds everything 'under the sun' to be vapor exposes the emptiness of life without God and drives us to the one who alone gives meaning, the resurrection that makes our labor not in vain.
How Ecclesiastes 7:20 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.