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.
Parallel translations
- WEB But it shall not be well with the wicked, neither shall he lengthen days like a shadow; because he doesn’t fear God.
- BSB Yet because the wicked do not fear God, it will not go well with them, and their days will not lengthen like a shadow.
- NKJV But it will not be well with the wicked; nor will he prolong his days, which are as a shadow, because he does not fear before God.
- NASB But it will not go well for the evil person and he will not lengthen his days like a shadow, because he does not fear God.
- NLT The wicked will not prosper, for they do not fear God. Their days will never grow long like the evening shadows.
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
It will not go well with the wicked, whose days are as fleeting as a shadow, because he does not fear God. The lack of reverence is the root of the wicked person's ruin.
Overview
Complementing verse 12, this verse declares the certain, if not always immediate, ill end of those who refuse to fear God. Their life, however long it seems, is ultimately without lasting substance. This sober warning underscores that the fear of the Lord is the foundation of true life, fully secured for believers in Christ (Proverbs 9:10; John 3:36).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 18
- Eccl 6:12For who knoweth what is good for man in this life, all the days of his vain life which he spendeth as a shadow? for who can tell a man what shall be after him under the sun?
- Job 14:2He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not.
- Isa 3:11Woe unto the wicked! it shall be ill with him: for the reward of his hands shall be given him.
- Mal 3:18Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not.
- Isa 57:21There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.
- Ps 55:23But thou, O God, shalt bring them down into the pit of destruction: bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their days; but I will trust in thee.
- Job 18:5Yea, the light of the wicked shall be put out, and the spark of his fire shall not shine.
- Job 21:30That the wicked is reserved to the day of destruction? they shall be brought forth to the day of wrath.
- Matt 13:49–50So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just,
- Ps 144:4Man is like to vanity: his days are as a shadow that passeth away.
- Isa 30:13Therefore this iniquity shall be to you as a breach ready to fall, swelling out in a high wall, whose breaking cometh suddenly at an instant.
- Ps 39:5Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee: verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity. Selah.
- 2 Pet 2:3And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not.
- Jas 4:14Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.
- John 5:29And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.
- Ps 11:5The LORD trieth the righteous: but the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul hateth.
- Job 20:5That the triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment?
- Job 7:6–7My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle, and are spent without hope.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 8:13 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.