That which is crooked cannot be made straight: and that which is wanting cannot be numbered.
Parallel translations
- WEB That which is crooked can’t be made straight; and that which is lacking can’t be counted.
- BSB What is crooked cannot be straightened, and what is lacking cannot be counted.
- NKJV What is crooked cannot be made straight, And what is lacking cannot be numbered.
- NASB What is crooked cannot be straightened, and what is lacking cannot be counted.
- NLT What is wrong cannot be made right. What is missing cannot be recovered.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
What is crooked cannot be straightened, and what is lacking cannot be counted. Human effort cannot fix the deep disorder and deficiencies of a fallen world.
Overview
This proverb acknowledges the limits of wisdom to correct life's distortions. The brokenness of the world resists human repair, exposing our inability to set things right. Only God can ultimately straighten what is crooked, a hope realized in Christ, who reconciles all things and will make the crooked places straight.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- Eccl 7:12–13For wisdom is a defence, and money is a defence: but the excellency of knowledge is, that wisdom giveth life to them that have it.
- Matt 6:27Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?
- Eccl 3:14I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever: nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it: and God doeth it, that men should fear before him.
- Isa 40:4Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain:
- Job 34:29When he giveth quietness, who then can make trouble? and when he hideth his face, who then can behold him? whether it be done against a nation, or against a man only:
- Job 11:6And that he would shew thee the secrets of wisdom, that they are double to that which is! Know therefore that God exacteth of thee less than thine iniquity deserveth.
- Lam 3:37Who is he that saith, and it cometh to pass, when the Lord commandeth it not?
- Dan 4:35And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou?
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
The search that finds everything 'under the sun' to be vapor exposes the emptiness of life without God and drives us to the one who alone gives meaning, the resurrection that makes our labor not in vain.
How Ecclesiastes 1:15 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.