Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.
Parallel translations
- KJV Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.
- BSB When the sentence for a crime is not speedily executed, the hearts of men become fully set on doing evil.
- NKJV Because the sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.
- NASB Because the sentence against an evil deed is not executed quickly, therefore the hearts of the sons of mankind among them are fully given to do evil.
- NLT When a crime is not punished quickly, people feel it is safe to do wrong.
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
Because judgment on evil is delayed, people grow bolder in doing wrong. God's patience is mistaken for indifference and abused as license to sin.
Overview
Qoheleth observes a tragic dynamic: when wrongdoing goes unpunished quickly, hearts become more set on evil. The delay of justice is not its denial, but human sin exploits God's forbearance. Scripture warns against presuming on God's kindness, which is meant to lead to repentance, not hardening (Romans 2:4-5; 2 Peter 3:9).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Isa 26:10Let favor be shown to the wicked, yet he will not learn righteousness. In the land of uprightness he will deal wrongfully, and will not see Yahweh’s majesty.
- Rom 2:4–5Or do you despise the riches of his goodness, forbearance, and patience, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?
- Ps 50:21–22You have done these things, and I kept silent. You thought that I was just like you. I will rebuke you, and accuse you in front of your eyes.
- 2 Pet 3:3–10knowing this first, that in the last days mockers will come, walking after their own lusts,
- Matt 24:49–50and begins to beat his fellow servants, and eat and drink with the drunkards,
- Ps 10:6He says in his heart, “I shall not be shaken. For generations I shall have no trouble.”
- Job 21:11–15They send out their little ones like a flock. Their children dance.
- Jer 48:11“Moab has been at ease from his youth, and he has settled on his lees, and has not been emptied from vessel to vessel, neither has he gone into captivity: therefore his taste remains in him, and his scent is not changed.
- Exod 8:15But when Pharaoh saw that there was a respite, he hardened his heart, and didn’t listen to them, as Yahweh had spoken.
- Isa 5:18–19Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of falsehood, and wickedness as with cart rope;
- Isa 57:11“Whom have you dreaded and feared, so that you lie, and have not remembered me, nor laid it to your heart? Haven’t I held my peace for a long time, and you don’t fear me?
- Jer 42:15now therefore hear Yahweh’s word, O remnant of Judah: Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, says, ‘If you indeed set your faces to enter into Egypt, and go to live there;
- Exod 8:32Pharaoh hardened his heart this time also, and he didn’t let the people go.
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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 8:11 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
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