Ecclesiastes 7:15
New International Version
In this meaningless life of mine I have seen both of these: the righteous perishing in their righteousness, and the wicked living long in their wickedness.

New Living Translation
I have seen everything in this meaningless life, including the death of good young people and the long life of wicked people.

English Standard Version
In my vain life I have seen everything. There is a righteous man who perishes in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man who prolongs his life in his evildoing.

Berean Standard Bible
In my futile life I have seen both of these: A righteous man perishing in his righteousness, and a wicked man living long in his wickedness.

King James Bible
All things have I seen in the days of my vanity: there is a just man that perisheth in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man that prolongeth his life in his wickedness.

New King James Version
I have seen everything in my days of vanity: There is a just man who perishes in his righteousness, And there is a wicked man who prolongs life in his wickedness.

New American Standard Bible
I have seen everything during my lifetime of futility; there is a righteous person who perishes in his righteousness, and there is a wicked person who prolongs his life in his wickedness.

NASB 1995
I have seen everything during my lifetime of futility; there is a righteous man who perishes in his righteousness and there is a wicked man who prolongs his life in his wickedness.

NASB 1977
I have seen everything during my lifetime of futility; there is a righteous man who perishes in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man who prolongs his life in his wickedness.

Legacy Standard Bible
I have seen everything during my days of vanity; there is a righteous man who perishes in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man who prolongs his life in his evildoing.

Amplified Bible
I have seen everything during my [fleeting] days of futility; there is a righteous man who perishes in [spite of] his righteousness, and there is a wicked man who lives a long life in [spite of] his wickedness.

Christian Standard Bible
In my futile life I have seen everything: someone righteous perishes in spite of his righteousness, and someone wicked lives long in spite of his evil.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
In my futile life I have seen everything: there is a righteous man who perishes in spite of his righteousness, and there is a wicked man who lives long in spite of his evil.

American Standard Version
All this have I seen in my days of vanity: there is a righteous man that perisheth in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man that prolongeth his life in his evil-doing.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
Everything I have seen in the days of futility: there is a righteous one who is destroyed in his righteousness and there is an evil one who is prolonged in his evil

Brenton Septuagint Translation
I have seen all things in the days of my vanity: there is a just man perishing in his justice, and there is an ungodly man remaining in his wickedness.

Contemporary English Version
I have seen everything during this senseless life of mine. I have seen good citizens die for doing the right thing, while criminals live and prosper.

Douay-Rheims Bible
These things also I saw in the days of my vanity: A just man perisheth in his justice, and a wicked man liveth a long time in his wickedness.

English Revised Version
All this have I seen in the days of my vanity: there is a righteous man that perisheth in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man that prolongeth his life in his evil-doing.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
I have seen it all in my pointless life: Righteous people die in spite of being righteous. Wicked people go on living in spite of being wicked.

Good News Translation
My life has been useless, but in it I have seen everything. Some good people may die while others live on, even though they are evil.

International Standard Version
I have seen it all during my pointless life: both a righteous person who dies while he is righteous, and a wicked person who lives to an old age, while remaining wicked.

JPS Tanakh 1917
All things have I seen in the days of my vanity; there is a righteous man that perisheth in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man that prolongeth his life in his evil-doing.

Literal Standard Version
The whole I have considered in the days of my vanity. There is a righteous one perishing in his righteousness, and there is a wrongdoer prolonging [himself] in his wrong.

Majority Standard Bible
In my futile life I have seen both of these: A righteous man perishing in his righteousness, and a wicked man living long in his wickedness.

New American Bible
I have seen all manner of things in my vain days: the just perishing in their justice, and the wicked living long in their wickedness.

NET Bible
During the days of my fleeting life I have seen both of these things: Sometimes a righteous person dies prematurely in spite of his righteousness, and sometimes a wicked person lives long in spite of his evil deeds.

New Revised Standard Version
In my vain life I have seen everything; there are righteous people who perish in their righteousness, and there are wicked people who prolong their life in their evildoing.

New Heart English Bible
All this have I 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.

Webster's Bible Translation
All things have I seen in the days of my vanity: there is a just man that perisheth in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man that prolongeth his life in his wickedness.

World English Bible
All 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.

Young's Literal Translation
The whole I have considered in the days of my vanity. There is a righteous one perishing in his righteousness, and there is a wrong-doer prolonging himself in his wrong.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
The Limits of Human Wisdom
15 In my futile life I have seen both of these: A righteous man perishing in his righteousness, and a wicked man living long in his wickedness. 16Do not be overly righteous, and do not make yourself too wise. Why should you destroy yourself?…

Cross References
Ecclesiastes 6:12
For who knows what is good for a man during the few days in which he passes through his fleeting life like a shadow? Who can tell a man what will come after him under the sun?

Ecclesiastes 8:12
Although a sinner does evil a hundred times and still lives long, yet I also know that it will go well with those who fear God, who are reverent in His presence.

Ecclesiastes 8:13
Yet because the wicked do not fear God, it will not go well with them, and their days will not lengthen like a shadow.

Ecclesiastes 8:14
There 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.

Ecclesiastes 9:9
Enjoy life with your beloved wife all the days of the fleeting life that God has given you under the sun--all your fleeting days. For this is your portion in life and in your labor under the sun.


Treasury of Scripture

All things have I seen in the days of my vanity: there is a just man that perishes in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man that prolongs his life in his wickedness.

have I

Ecclesiastes 2:23
For all his days are sorrows, and his travail grief; yea, his heart taketh not rest in the night. This is also vanity.

Ecclesiastes 5:16,17
And this also is a sore evil, that in all points as he came, so shall he go: and what profit hath he that hath laboured for the wind? …

Ecclesiastes 6:12
For 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?

there is a just

Ecclesiastes 3:16
And moreover I saw under the sun the place of judgment, that wickedness was there; and the place of righteousness, that iniquity was there.

Ecclesiastes 8:14
There 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.

Ecclesiastes 9:1,2
For all this I considered in my heart even to declare all this, that the righteous, and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God: no man knoweth either love or hatred by all that is before them…

there is a wicked

Ecclesiastes 8:12,13
Though a sinner do evil an hundred times, and his days be prolonged, yet surely I know that it shall be well with them that fear God, which fear before him: …

Job 21:7-15
Wherefore do the wicked live, become old, yea, are mighty in power? …

Psalm 73:3-13
For I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked…

Jump to Previous
Considered End Evil Evildoing Evil-Doing Futility Good Life Meaningless Perishes Perisheth Perishing Prolongeth Prolonging Prolongs Purpose Righteous Righteousness Vain Vanity Whole Wicked Wickedness Wrong Wrong-Doer
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Considered End Evil Evildoing Evil-Doing Futility Good Life Meaningless Perishes Perisheth Perishing Prolongeth Prolonging Prolongs Purpose Righteous Righteousness Vain Vanity Whole Wicked Wickedness Wrong Wrong-Doer
Ecclesiastes 7
1. remedies against vanity are, a good name
2. mortification
7. patience
11. wisdom
23. The difficulty of wisdom














(15) Days of my vanity.--Ecclesiastes 6:12.

Verses 15-22. - Section 3. Warnings against excesses, and praise of the golden mean, which is practical wisdom and the art of living happily. Verse 15. - All things have I seen in the days of my vanity. Koheleth gives his own experience of an anomalous condition which often obtains in human affairs. "All," being here defined by the article, must refer to the cases which he has mentioned or proceeds to mention. "The days of vanity" mean merely "fleeting, vain days" (comp. Ecclesiastes 6:12). The expression denotes the writer's view of the emptiness and transitoriness of life (Ecclesiastes 1:2), and it may also have special reference to his own vain efforts to solve the problems of existence. There is a just (righteous) man that perisheth in his righteousness. Here is a difficulty about the dispensation of good and evil, which has always perplexed the thoughtful. It finds expression in Psalm 73, though the singer propounds a solution (ver. 17) which Koheleth misses. The meaning of the preposition (בְּ) before "righteousness" is disputed. Delitzsch, Wright, and others take it as equivalent to "in spite of," as in Deuteronomy 1:32, where "in this thing" means "notwithstanding," "for all this thing." Righteousness has the promise of long life and prosperity; it is an anomaly that it should meet with disaster and early death. We cannot argue from this that the author did not believe in temporal rewards and punishments; he states merely certain of his own experiences, which may be abnormal and capable of explanation. For his special purpose this was sufficient. Others take the preposition to mean "through," "in consequence of." Good men have always been persecuted for righteousness' sake (Matthew 5:10, 11; John 17:14; 2 Timothy 3:12), and so far the interpretation is quite admissible, and is perhaps supported by ver. 16, which makes a certain sort of righteousness the cause of disaster. But looking to the second clause of the present verse, where we can hardly suppose that the wicked man is said to attain to long life in consequence of his wickedness, we are safe in adopting the rendering, "in spite of." There is a wicked man that prolongeth his life in (in spite of) his wickedness. The verb arak, "to make long," "to prolong," is used both with and without the accusative "days" (see Ecclesiastes 8:12, 13; Deuteronomy 5:33; Proverbs 28:2). Septuagint, Ἐστὶν ἀσεβῆς μένων ἐν κακίᾳ αὐτοῦ, There is an ungodly man remaining in his wickedness," which does not convey the sense of the original. According to the moral government of God experienced by the Hebrews in their history, the sinner was to suffer calamity and to be cut off prematurely. This is the contention of Job's friends, against which he argues so warmly. The writer of the Book of Wisdom has learned to look for the correction of such anomalies in another life. He sees that length of days is not always a blessing, and that retribution awaits the evil beyond the grave (Wisd. 1:9 Wisd. 3:4, 10 Wisd. 4:8, 19, etc.). Abel perished in early youth; Cain had his days prolonged. This apparent inversion of moral order leads to another reflection concerning the danger of exaggerations.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
In my futile
הֶבְלִ֑י (heḇ·lî)
Noun - masculine singular construct | first person common singular
Strong's 1892: Emptiness, vanity, transitory, unsatisfactory

life
בִּימֵ֣י (bî·mê)
Preposition-b | Noun - masculine plural construct
Strong's 3117: A day

I have seen
רָאִ֖יתִי (rā·’î·ṯî)
Verb - Qal - Perfect - first person common singular
Strong's 7200: To see

both of these:
הַכֹּ֥ל (hak·kōl)
Article | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 3605: The whole, all, any, every

A righteous man
צַדִּיק֙ (ṣad·dîq)
Adjective - masculine singular
Strong's 6662: Just, righteous

perishing
אֹבֵ֣ד (’ō·ḇêḏ)
Verb - Qal - Participle - masculine singular
Strong's 6: To wander away, lose oneself, to perish

in his righteousness,
בְּצִדְק֔וֹ (bə·ṣiḏ·qōw)
Preposition-b | Noun - masculine singular construct | third person masculine singular
Strong's 6664: The right, equity, prosperity

[and]
וְיֵ֣שׁ (wə·yêš)
Conjunctive waw | Adverb
Strong's 3426: Being, substance, existence, is

a wicked man
רָשָׁ֔ע (rā·šā‘)
Adjective - masculine singular
Strong's 7563: Wrong, an, bad person

living long
מַאֲרִ֖יךְ (ma·’ă·rîḵ)
Verb - Hifil - Participle - masculine singular
Strong's 748: To be, long

in his wickedness.
בְּרָעָתֽוֹ׃ (bə·rā·‘ā·ṯōw)
Preposition-b | Noun - feminine singular construct | third person masculine singular
Strong's 7451: Bad, evil


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OT Poetry: Ecclesiastes 7:15 All this have I seen in my (Ecclesiast. Ec Ecc Eccles.)
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