Say not thou, What is the cause that the former days were better than these? for thou dost not enquire wisely concerning this.
Parallel translations
- WEB Don’t say, “Why were the former days better than these?” For you do not ask wisely about this.
- BSB Do not say, “Why were the old days better than these?” For it is unwise of you to ask about this.
- NKJV Do not say, “Why were the former days better than these?” For you do not inquire wisely concerning this.
- NASB Do not say, “Why is it that the former days were better than these?” For it is not from wisdom that you ask about this.
- NLT Don’t long for “the good old days.” This is not wise.
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
Don't ask why the former days were better than now, for that is not a wise question. It matters because idealizing the past breeds discontent and ingratitude toward God's present providence.
Overview
The Preacher rebukes nostalgic complaining that the 'good old days' were better, exposing it as unwise. Such longing distorts reality and questions God's ordering of the present. Wisdom instead trusts God's hand in every season (3:1-8), receiving today as His gift and walking by faith rather than romanticizing a vanished past.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- Ps 14:2–3The LORD looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God.
- Judg 6:13And Gideon said unto him, Oh my Lord, if the LORD be with us, why then is all this befallen us? and where be all his miracles which our fathers told us of, saying, Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt? but now the LORD hath forsaken us, and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites.
- Rom 1:22–32Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,
- Gen 6:11–12The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.
- Isa 50:1Thus saith the LORD, Where is the bill of your mother’s divorcement, whom I have put away? or which of my creditors is it to whom I have sold you? Behold, for your iniquities have ye sold yourselves, and for your transgressions is your mother put away.
- Jer 44:17–19But we will certainly do whatsoever thing goeth forth out of our own mouth, to burn incense unto the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her, as we have done, we, and our fathers, our kings, and our princes, in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem: for then had we plenty of victuals, and were well, and saw no evil.
- Rom 3:9–19What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin;
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 7:10 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
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