Ecclesiastes 8:9-13

New International Version

⁹ All this I saw, as I applied my mind to everything done under the sun. There is a time when a man lords it over others to his own^[a] hurt. ¹⁰ Then too, I saw the wicked buried^(A)—those who used to come and go from the holy place and receive praise^[b] 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) 13} Yet because the wicked do not fear God,^(E) it will not go well with them, and their days^(F) will not lengthen like a shadow.