Ecclesiastes 8:14

WEB

¹⁴There is a vanity which is done on the earth, that there are righteous men to whom it happens according to the work of the wicked. Again, there are wicked men to whom it happens according to the work of the righteous. I said that this also is vanity.

KJV

¹⁴There is a vanity which is done upon the earth; that there be just men, unto whom it happeneth according to the work of the wicked; again, there be wicked men, to whom it happeneth according to the work of the righteous: I said that this also is vanity.

BSB

¹⁴There is a futility that is done on the earth: There are righteous men who get what the actions of the wicked deserve, and there are wicked men who get what the actions of the righteous deserve. I say that this too is futile.

FBV

¹⁴Another thing that is hard to understand is this: good people are treated as the wicked should be, and the wicked are treated as good people should be. As I say, this is difficult to comprehend!

Extra References

Ecclesiastes 7:15

¹⁵All this I have seen in my days of vanity: there is a righteous man who perishes in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man who lives long in his evildoing.

Malachi 3:15

¹⁵Now we call the proud happy; yes, those who work wickedness are built up; yes, they tempt God, and escape.’

Ecclesiastes 2:14

¹⁴The wise man’s eyes are in his head, and the fool walks in darkness—and yet I perceived that one event happens to them all.

Ecclesiastes 9:1-3

¹For all this I laid to my heart, even to explore all this: that the righteous, and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God; whether it is love or hatred, man doesn’t know it; all is before them. ²All things come alike to all. There is one event to the righteous and to the wicked; to the good, to the clean, to the unclean, to him who sacrifices, and to him who doesn’t sacrifice. As is the good, so is the sinner; he who takes an oath, as he who fears an oath. ³This is an evil in all that is done under the sun, that there is one event to all. Yes also, the heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live, and after that they go to the dead.

Psalms 73:12-14

¹²Behold, these are the wicked. Being always at ease, they increase in riches. ¹³Surely I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocence, ¹⁴For all day long I have been plagued, and punished every morning.

Psalms 73:3

³For I was envious of the arrogant, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

Job 21:7

⁷“Why do the wicked live, become old, yes, and grow mighty in power?

Job 9:22-24

²²“It is all the same. Therefore I say he destroys the blameless and the wicked. ²³If the scourge kills suddenly, he will mock at the trial of the innocent. ²⁴The earth is given into the hand of the wicked. He covers the faces of its judges. If not he, then who is it?

Ecclesiastes 10:5

⁵There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, the sort of error which proceeds from the ruler.

Job 24:21-25

²¹He devours the barren who don’t bear. He shows no kindness to the widow. ²²Yet God preserves the mighty by his power. He rises up who has no assurance of life. ²³God gives them security, and they rest in it. His eyes are on their ways. ²⁴They are exalted; yet a little while, and they are gone. Yes, they are brought low, they are taken out of the way as all others, and are cut off as the tops of the ears of grain. ²⁵If it isn’t so now, who will prove me a liar, and make my speech worth nothing?”