Whatever has been, its name was given long ago; and it is known what man is; neither can he contend with him who is mightier than he.
Parallel translations
- KJV That which hath been is named already, and it is known that it is man: neither may he contend with him that is mightier than he.
- BSB Whatever exists was named long ago, and what happens to a man is foreknown; but he cannot contend with one stronger than he.
- NKJV Whatever one is, he has been named already, For it is known that he is man; And he cannot contend with Him who is mightier than he.
- NASB Whatever exists has already been named, and it is known what man is; for he cannot dispute with the one who is mightier than he is.
- NLT Everything has already been decided. It was known long ago what each person would be. So there’s no use arguing with God about your destiny.
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
Whatever exists was named long ago, man's nature is known, and he cannot contend with the One mightier than he. It matters because human beings cannot dispute with the sovereign God who ordains all things.
Overview
The Preacher affirms God's sovereign foreknowledge and the futility of arguing against the Almighty. Humanity's frailty ('it is known what man is,' i.e., mere dust) forbids contention with the Creator, as Job learned (Job 9:32; Isaiah 45:9). This humbling truth invites trust rather than rebellion, a trust that rests securely in the good purposes of God revealed in Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 15
- Job 9:32For he is not a man, as I am, that I should answer him, that we should come together in judgment.
- Isa 45:9–10Woe to him who strives with his Maker — a clay pot among the clay pots of the earth! Shall the clay ask him who fashions it, ‘What are you making?’ or your work, ‘He has no hands?’
- Job 40:2“Shall he who argues contend with the Almighty? He who argues with God, let him answer it.”
- Job 33:13Why do you strive against him, because he doesn’t give account of any of his matters?
- Jer 49:19“Behold, he will come up like a lion from the pride of the Jordan against the strong habitation: for I will suddenly make them run away from it; and whoever is chosen, I will appoint him over it. For who is like me? Who will appoint me a time? Who is the shepherd who will stand before me?”
- Gen 3:17–19To Adam he said, “Because you have listened to your wife’s voice, and ate from the tree, about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ the ground is cursed for your sake. You will eat from it with much labor all the days of your life.
- Rom 9:19–20You will say then to me, “Why does he still find fault? For who withstands his will?”
- Eccl 3:15That which is has been long ago, and that which is to be has been long ago: and God seeks again that which is passed away.
- Ps 82:6–7I said, “You are gods, all of you are sons of the Most High.
- Job 9:3–4If he is pleased to contend with him, he can’t answer him one time in a thousand.
- Ps 39:6“Surely every man walks like a shadow. Surely they busy themselves in vain. He heaps up, and doesn’t know who shall gather.
- Job 14:1–4“Man, who is born of a woman, is of few days, and full of trouble.
- Eccl 1:9–11That which has been is that which shall be; and that which has been done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.
- Ps 103:15As for man, his days are like grass. As a flower of the field, so he flourishes.
- Gen 3:9Yahweh God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?”
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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 6:10 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.