Then I beheld all the work of God, that a man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun: because though a man labour to seek it out, yet he shall not find it; yea farther; though a wise man think to know it, yet shall he not be able to find it.
Parallel translations
- WEB then I saw all the work of God, that man can’t find out the work that is done under the sun, because however much a man labors to seek it out, yet he won’t find it. Yes even though a wise man thinks he can comprehend it, he won’t be able to find it.
- BSB I saw every work of God, and that a man is unable to comprehend the work that is done under the sun. Despite his efforts to search it out, he cannot find its meaning; even if the wise man claims to know, he is unable to comprehend.
- NKJV then I saw all the work of God, that a man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun. For though a man labors to discover it, yet he will not find it; moreover, though a wise man attempts to know it, he will not be able to find it.
- NASB and I saw every work of God, I concluded that one cannot discover the work which has been done under the sun. Even though a person laboriously seeks, he will not discover; and even if the wise person claims to know, he cannot discover.
- NLT I realized that no one can discover everything God is doing under the sun. Not even the wisest people discover everything, no matter what they claim.
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
However hard one labors, no one can fully comprehend the work of God under the sun, not even the wisest. Honest wisdom ends in humble acknowledgment of God's inscrutability.
Overview
Qoheleth concludes that the totality of God's providence lies beyond human grasp; even the sage who claims to understand it cannot. This is not despair but a call to trust rather than fully explain. It anticipates the gospel posture of faith, resting in the God whose wisdom is revealed and trusted in Christ even where it remains hidden (Deuteronomy 29:29; Colossians 2:2-3).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Eccl 3:11He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end.
- Ps 73:16When I thought to know this, it was too painful for me;
- Rom 11:33O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!
- Job 5:9Which doeth great things and unsearchable; marvellous things without number:
- Eccl 7:23–24All this have I proved by wisdom: I said, I will be wise; but it was far from me.
- Isa 40:28Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding.
- Ps 40:5Many, O LORD my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts which are to us-ward: they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee: if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered.
- Eccl 11:5As thou knowest not what is the way of the spirit, nor how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with child: even so thou knowest not the works of God who maketh all.
- Job 11:7–9Canst thou by searching find out God? canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection?
- Prov 30:3–4I neither learned wisdom, nor have the knowledge of the holy.
- Ps 104:24O LORD, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all: the earth is full of thy riches.
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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 8:17 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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