Translations
F.O.G.MPrimary
F.O.G MessageIn this vapor-thin life I have seen it all — a righteous man cut down in his righteousness, and a wicked man who outlives his evil.
F.O.GSecondary
The F.O.GAll this I have seen in my days of vapour: there is a tsaddiq who perishes in his righteousness, and there is a rasha who prolongs his days in his wickedness.
KJV
King James VersionAll things have I seen in the days of my vanity: there is a just man that perisheth in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man that prolongeth his life in his wickedness.
BSB
Berean Standard BibleIn my futile life I have seen both of these: A righteous man perishing in his righteousness, and a wicked man living long in his wickedness.
Footnotes
יְמֵי הֶבְלִי (yemei hevli, "my days of vapour/breath") — Qohelet uses הֶבֶל (hevel) consistently as the image of breath: brief, real, and gone in a moment, not the nihilistic "vanity" of the KJV tradition. "My days of vapour" frames the moral shock that follows: in a life as brief as a breath, the righteous dying young and the wicked thriving long is not a peripheral puzzle but a central wound. Both versions render hevel as vapour/vapor; F.O.G Message heightens the existential force with "vapor-thin."
