Discovery BoxEcclesiastes 8:12-13 
Context8:12 Even though a sinner might commit a hundred crimes 1 and still live a long time, 2
yet I know that it will go well with God-fearing people 3 – for they stand in fear 4 before him.
8:13 But it will not go well with the wicked,
1 tn Heb “does evil one hundred [times].”
2 tn Heb “and prolongs his [life].”
3 tn Heb “those who fear God.”
4 tn Heb “they fear.”
5 tn Heb “he.”
6 tn The word “their” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for smoothness.
7 tn The phrase “like a shadow” (כַּצֵּל, katsel) modifies the verb (“prolong”) rather than the noun (“days”). Several English versions misconstrue the line: “he will not prolong his days, [which are] like a shadow” (KJV, ASV); “the man who does not fear God is like a shadow” (NEB); and “he will not prolong his shadowy days” (NAB). It should be rendered “he will not prolong his days like a shadow” (RSV, NRSV, NASB, MLB, NIV). Unlike a shadow that lengthens at sunset, the wicked do not normally live long.
8 tn Heb “he.”
9 tn Heb “they do not fear.”
