What is the meaning of Ecclesiastes 8:13?

Yet because the wicked do not fear God

“Yet because the wicked do not fear God”

• Scripture sets the fear of God as the starting point for wisdom and life (Proverbs 1:7; Ecclesiastes 12:13).

• When a person refuses that reverent awe, rebellion follows naturally (Psalm 36:1; Romans 3:18).

• The Preacher has already contrasted those who revere the LORD with those who ignore Him (Ecclesiastes 3:14; 7:18). Here he reminds us that disbelief in God’s authority is the root of every other disaster that will follow.

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it will not go well with them

“…it will not go well with them”

• God’s moral order is unbreakable: what a man sows he reaps (Galatians 6:7-8).

• Proverbs echoes the same theme: “The fear of the LORD prolongs life, but the years of the wicked will be cut short” (Proverbs 10:27).

• Psalm 1 describes the wicked as chaff the wind drives away; Psalm 34:16 adds that the LORD’s face is against those who do evil.

• Even when circumstances seem to favor evil temporarily (Ecclesiastes 8:11), ultimate judgment is certain (Hebrews 9:27).

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and their days will not lengthen like a shadow

“…and their days will not lengthen like a shadow”

• Shadows stretch out only briefly before disappearing—an image for life’s brevity (Psalm 102:11; 109:23).

• Job 20:5 observes that “the triumph of the wicked is short,” and Isaiah 57:20-21 pictures the wicked as a restless sea.

• The faithful may sometimes envy their apparent success (Psalm 73:3-7), yet God quickly reminds that He “sets them on slippery ground” and they are “swept away in an instant” (Psalm 73:18-19).

• In contrast, those who honor God inherit enduring life (Psalm 91:14-16; John 10:28).

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summary

Ecclesiastes 8:13 assures us that rejecting the fear of God leads inevitably to loss—no real peace now, no lasting days ahead. The wicked may seem to prosper for a season, but their story ends abruptly, like a shadow that stretches at sundown and vanishes at nightfall. Reverence for the LORD remains the only path to a life that truly “goes well” and endures beyond the fleeting moment.