Ecclesiastes 8:10-12
Contemporary English Version
Who Can Understand the Ways of God?
10 I saw the wicked buried with honor, but God's people had to leave the holy city and were forgotten.[a] None of this makes sense. 11 When we see criminals commit crime after crime without being punished, it makes us want to start a life of crime. 12 They commit hundreds of crimes and live a long time, in spite of the saying:
Everyone who lives right
and respects God
will prosper,
Footnotes
- 8.10 but … forgotten: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
Ecclesiastes 8:10-12
New International Version
10 Then too, I saw the wicked buried(A)—those who used to come and go from the holy place and receive praise[a] in the city where they did this. This too is meaningless.
11 When the sentence for a crime is not quickly carried out, people’s hearts are filled with schemes to do wrong. 12 Although a wicked person who commits a hundred crimes may live a long time, I know that it will go better(B) with those who fear God,(C) who are reverent before him.(D)
Footnotes
- Ecclesiastes 8:10 Some Hebrew manuscripts and Septuagint (Aquila); most Hebrew manuscripts and are forgotten
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