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.
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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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 knows what is good for man in life, all the days of his vain life which he spends like a shadow? For who can tell a man what will be after him under the sun?
- Job 14:2He grows up like a flower, and is cut down. He also flees like a shadow, and doesn’t continue.
- Isa 3:11Woe to the wicked! Disaster is upon them; for the deeds of his hands will be paid back to him.
- Mal 3:18Then you shall return and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him who serves God and him who doesn’t serve him.
- Isa 57:21“There is no peace”, says my God, “for the wicked.”
- Ps 55:23But you, God, will bring them down into the pit of destruction. Bloodthirsty and deceitful men shall not live out half their days, but I will trust in you.
- Job 18:5“Yes, the light of the wicked shall be put out, The spark of his fire shall not shine.
- Job 21:30that the evil man is reserved to the day of calamity, That they are led out to the day of wrath?
- Matt 13:49–50So will it be in the end of the world. The angels will come and separate the wicked from among the righteous,
- Ps 144:4Man is like a breath. His days are like a shadow that passes away.
- Isa 30:13therefore this iniquity shall be to you like a breach ready to fall, swelling out in a high wall, whose breaking comes suddenly in an instant.
- Ps 39:5Behold, you have made my days hand widths. My lifetime is as nothing before you. Surely every man stands as a breath.” Selah.
- 2 Pet 2:3In covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words: whose sentence now from of old doesn’t linger, and their destruction will not slumber.
- Jas 4:14Whereas you don’t know what your life will be like tomorrow. For what is your life? For you are a vapor, that appears for a little time, and then vanishes away.
- John 5:29and will come out; those who have done good, to the resurrection of life; and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of judgment.
- Ps 11:5Yahweh examines the righteous, but the wicked and him who loves violence his soul hates.
- Job 20:5that the triumphing of the wicked is short, the joy of the godless 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.