Ecclesiastes 7:15 (WEB)

Passage

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.

Nearby Context

Ecclesiastes 7:13 Consider the work of God, for who can make that straight, which he has made crooked?

Ecclesiastes 7:14 In the day of prosperity be joyful, and in the day of adversity consider; yes, God has made the one side by side with the other, to the end that man should not find out anything after him.

Ecclesiastes 7:15 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.

Ecclesiastes 7:16 Don’t be overly righteous, neither make yourself overly wise. Why should you destroy yourself?

Ecclesiastes 7:17 Don’t be too wicked, neither be foolish. Why should you die before your time?

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "seen", "days", "vanity", "righteous", "perishes", "righteousness", "wicked", and "lives". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "seen" and "days", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 14's "In the day of prosperity be joyful..." into verse 16's "Don t be overly righteous neither make...", so "seen" and "days" belong inside that flow. In Ecclesiastes context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "seen" and "days" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.