Translation
There is a vapor-like thing that happens on the earth: there are just [men] who are struck
Go to footnote numberaccording to deeds of the wicked, and again there are wicked [men] who have come to them
Go to footnote numberaccording to the deeds of the righteous. I said that this also is like a vapor.
Go to footnote numberParaphrase
Here is another vapor-like thing that happens on earth: there are righteous men who have happen to them what we would expect would happen to the wicked as a consequence for their evil deeds, and there are wicked men who have happen to them the things we would expect to happen to the righteous as consequences of their righteous actions. I said to myself that this also is just like a vapor.
Footnotes
1
This word means “to strike, to reach or to touch.” By extension it also means “to extend, to befall, to happen, to arrive, to acquire or to attain.”
2: “have come to them”
This is once again the word to “strike.” Above, when the consequence was punishment, I used the word “strike” in order to show what the word actually means, but when the consequence is reward, I used “have come to them” instead.
3
This is “like a vapor” because it is: P: is not Predictable; and E: is Not Easily understood and is Endlessly frustrating. The bottom line is that we can’t understand God, but we still need to trust that He knows what He is doing. Just because something does not seem right to us, does not mean it is wrong. We cannot see everything God does.