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.
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.
- KJV 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.
- 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.
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 has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in their hearts, yet so that man can’t find out the work that God has done from the beginning even to the end.
- Ps 73:16When I tried to understand this, it was too painful for me;
- Rom 11:33Oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past tracing out!
- Job 5:9who does great things that can’t be fathomed, marvelous things without number;
- Eccl 7:23–24All this I have proved in wisdom. I said, “I will be wise”; but it was far from me.
- Isa 40:28Haven’t you known? Haven’t you heard? The everlasting God, Yahweh, The Creator of the ends of the earth, doesn’t faint. He isn’t weary. His understanding is unsearchable.
- Ps 40:5Many, Yahweh, my God, are the wonderful works which you have done, and your thoughts which are toward us. They can’t be declared back to you. If I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be counted.
- Eccl 11:5As you don’t know what is the way of the wind, nor how the bones grow in the womb of her who is with child; even so you don’t know the work of God who does all.
- Job 11:7–9“Can you fathom the mystery of God? Or can you probe the limits of the Almighty?
- Prov 30:3–4I have not learned wisdom, neither do I have the knowledge of the Holy One.
- Ps 104:24Yahweh, how many are your works! In wisdom have you made them all. The earth is full of your 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
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.