Ecclesiastes 8:8

The Message

No one can control the wind or lock it in a box. No one has any say-so regarding the day of death. No one can stop a battle in its tracks. No one who does evil can be saved by evil.

Cross References

2 Kings 7:15

They went after them all the way to the Jordan. The whole way was strewn with clothes and equipment that Aram had dumped in their panicked flight. The scouts came back and reported to the king.

Psalm 9:17

The wicked bought a one-way ticket to hell. No longer will the poor be nameless— no more humiliation for the humble. Up, God! Aren’t you fed up with their empty strutting? Expose these grand pretensions! Shake them up, God! Show them how silly they look.

Proverbs 12:3

You can’t find firm footing in a swamp, but life rooted in God stands firm.

Proverbs 14:32

The evil of bad people leaves them out in the cold; the integrity of good people creates a safe place for living.

Ecclesiastes 9:12

No one can predict misfortune. Like fish caught in a cruel net or birds in a trap, So men and women are caught By accidents evil and sudden.

Isaiah 28:18

“Then you’ll see that your precious life insurance policy wasn’t worth the paper it was written on. Your careful precautions against death were a pack of illusions and lies. When the disaster happens, you’ll be crushed by it. Every time disaster comes, you’ll be in on it— disaster in the morning, disaster at night.” Every report of disaster will send you cowering in terror. There will be no place where you can rest, nothing to hide under. God will rise to full stature, raging as he did long ago on Mount Perazim And in the valley of Gibeon against the Philistines. But this time it’s against you. Hard to believe, but true. Not what you’d expect, but it’s coming. Sober up, friends, and don’t scoff. Scoffing will just make it worse. I’ve heard the orders issued for destruction, orders from God-of-the-Angel-Armies—ending up in an international disaster. * * *

Hebrews 9:27

Everyone has to die once, then face the consequences. Christ’s death was also a one-time event, but it was a sacrifice that took care of sins forever. And so, when he next appears, the outcome for those eager to greet him is, precisely, salvation.