Ecclesiastes 7:15

American Standard Version with Strong's Numbers

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.

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

אֶת־הַכֹּל רָאִיתִי בִּימֵי הֶבְלִי יֵשׁ צַדִּיק אֹבֵד בְּצִדְקוֹ וְיֵשׁ רָשָׁע מַאֲרִיךְ בְּרָעָתוֹ

Transliteration

ʾEṯ-the-all rāʾîṯî in-yəmê heḇlî there-is ṣaddîq ʾōḇēḏ in-ṣiḏqô and-there-is rāšāʿ maʾărîḵ in-rāʿāṯô

Grammar Details

• *ʾeṯ*: direct object marker
• *rāʾîṯî*: Qal perfect 1st common singular - I have seen
• *yəmê*: noun, masculine plural construct - days of
• *heḇlî*: noun, masculine singular with 1st common singular suffix - my vanity
• *ṣaddîq*: adjective, masculine singular - righteous person
• *ʾōḇēḏ*: Qal participle masculine singular - perishing
• *ṣiḏqô*: noun, masculine singular with 3rd masculine singular suffix - his righteousness
• *rāšāʿ*: adjective, masculine singular - wicked person
• *maʾărîḵ*: Hiphil participle masculine singular - prolonging
• *rāʿāṯô*: noun, feminine singular with 3rd masculine singular suffix - his evil

Word Meanings

• *yəmê* *heḇlî*: days of my vanity/my fleeting lifetime
• *ṣaddîq*: righteous person/just individual
• *ʾōḇēḏ*: perishing/being destroyed/dying
• *ṣiḏqô*: his righteousness/his just behavior
• *rāšāʿ*: wicked person/evil individual
• *maʾărîḵ*: prolonging/extending/lengthening
• *rāʿāṯô*: his evil/his wickedness

Referenced Verses

• Eccl 8:12-14 : 12 Though a sinner do evil a hundred times, and prolong his [days], yet surely I know that it shall be well with them that fear God, that fear before him: 13 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. 14 There is a vanity which is done upon the earth, that there are righteous men unto whom it happeneth according to the work of the wicked; again, there are wicked men to whom it happeneth according to the work of the righteous: I said that this also is vanity.
• Eccl 6:12 : 12 For who knoweth what is good for man in [his] 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?
• Eccl 9:1-2 : 1 For 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 be love or hatred, man knoweth it not; all is before them. 2 All things come alike to all: there is one event to the righteous and to the wicked; to the good and to the clean and to the unclean; to him that sacrificeth and to him that sacrificeth not; as is the good, so is the sinner; [and] he that sweareth, as he that feareth an oath.
• Eccl 9:9 : 9 Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest all the days of thy life of vanity, which he hath given thee under the sun, all thy days of vanity: for that is thy portion in life, and in thy labor wherein thou laborest under the sun.
• Isa 65:20 : 20 There shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days; for the child shall die a hundred years old, and the sinner being a hundred years old shall be accursed.
• Jer 12:1-2 : 1 Righteous art thou, O Jehovah, when I contend with thee; yet would I reason the cause with thee: wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper? wherefore are all they at ease that deal very treacherously? 2 Thou hast planted them, yea, they have taken root; they grow, yea, they bring forth fruit: thou art near in their mouth, and far from their heart.
• Matt 23:34-35 : 34 Therefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: some of them shall ye kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute from city to city: 35 that upon you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of Abel the righteous unto the blood of Zachariah son of Barachiah, whom ye slew between the sanctuary and the altar.
• John 16:2 : 2 They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the hour cometh, that whosoever killeth you shall think that he offereth service unto God.
• Acts 7:52 : 52 Which of the prophets did not your fathers persecute? and they killed them that showed before of the coming of the Righteous One; of whom ye have now become betrayers and murderers;
• Gen 47:9 : 9 And Jacob said unto Pharaoh, The days of the years of my pilgrimage are a hundred and thirty years: few and evil have been the days of the years of my life, and they have not attained unto the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage.
• 1 Sam 22:18-19 : 18 And the king said to Doeg, Turn thou, and fall upon the priests. And Doeg the Edomite turned, and he fell upon the priests, and he slew on that day fourscore and five persons that did wear a linen ephod. 19 And Nob, the city of the priests, smote he with the edge of the sword, both men and women, children and sucklings, and oxen and asses and sheep, with the edge of the sword.
• 1 Kgs 21:13 : 13 And the two men, the base fellows, came in and sat before him: and the base fellows bare witness against him, even against Naboth, in the presence of the people, saying, Naboth did curse God and the king. Then they carried him forth out of the city, and stoned him to death with stones.
• 2 Chr 24:21-22 : 21 And they conspired against him, and stoned him with stones at the commandment of the king in the court of the house of Jehovah. 22 Thus Joash the king remembered not the kindness which Jehoiada his father had done to him, but slew his son. And when he died, he said, Jehovah look upon it, and require it.
• Job 9:22-23 : 22 It is all one; therefore I say, He destroyeth the perfect and the wicked. 23 If the scourge slay suddenly, He will mock at the trial of the innocent.
• Job 21:7-9 : 7 Wherefore do the wicked live, Become old, yea, wax mighty in power? 8 Their seed is established with them in their sight, And their offspring before their eyes. 9 Their houses are safe from fear, Neither is the rod of God upon them. 10 Their bull gendereth, and faileth not; Their cow calveth, and casteth not her calf. 11 They send forth their little ones like a flock, And their children dance. 12 They sing to the timbrel and harp, And rejoice at the sound of the pipe. 13 They spend their days in prosperity, And in a moment they go down to Sheol. 14 And they say unto God, Depart from us; For we desire not the knowledge of thy ways. 15 What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? And what profit should we have, if we pray unto him?
• Ps 39:6 : 6 [Surely every man] [walketh] [in a vain show;] [Surely they are disquieted] [in vain:] [He heapeth up] [riches], and knoweth not who shall gather them.
• Ps 73:3-9 : 3 For I was envious at the arrogant, When I saw the prosperity of the wicked. 4 For there are no pangs in their death; But their strength is firm. 5 They are not in trouble as [other] men; Neither are they plagued like [other] men. 6 Therefore pride is as a chain about their neck; Violence covereth them as a garment. 7 Their eyes stand out with fatness: They have more than heart could wish. 8 They scoff, and in wickedness utter oppression: They speak loftily. 9 They have set their mouth in the heavens, And their tongue walketh through the earth. 10 Therefore his people return hither: And waters of a full [cup] are drained by them. 11 And they say, How doth God know? And is there knowledge in the Most High? 12 Behold, these are the wicked; And, being alway at ease, they increase in riches. 13 Surely in vain have I cleansed my heart, And washed my hands in innocency;
• Eccl 2:23 : 23 For all his days are [but] sorrows, and his travail is grief; yea, even in the night his heart taketh no rest. This also is vanity.
• Eccl 3:16 : 16 And moreover I saw under the sun, in the place of justice, that wickedness was there; and in the place of righteousness, that wickedness was there.
• Eccl 5:16-17 : 16 And this also is a grievous evil, that in all points as he came, so shall he go: and what profit hath he that he laboreth for the wind? 17 All his days also he eateth in darkness, and he is sore vexed, and hath sickness and wrath.