Because to every purpose there is time and judgment, therefore the misery of man is great upon him.
Parallel translations
- WEB For there is a time and procedure for every purpose, although the misery of man is heavy on him.
- BSB For there is a right time and procedure to every purpose, though a man’s misery weighs heavily upon him.
- NKJV Because for every matter there is a time and judgment, Though the misery of man increases greatly.
- NASB For there is a proper time and procedure for every delight, though a person’s trouble is heavy upon him.
- NLT for there is a time and a way for everything, even when a person is in trouble.
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
Every purpose has its proper time and manner, yet human trouble still presses heavily upon us. Wisdom about timing does not exempt us from the burdens of a fallen world.
Overview
Building on verse 5, Qoheleth affirms that there is a fitting time for everything (echoing 3:1-8), while acknowledging that misery weighs on people because they cannot fully master the future. This tension is characteristic of Ecclesiastes: wisdom helps, but it cannot remove the curse. Only in Christ is the burden ultimately lifted (Matthew 11:28-30).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Eccl 3:1To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
- Eccl 3:17I said in mine heart, God shall judge the righteous and the wicked: for there is a time there for every purpose and for every work.
- Luke 19:42–44Saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes.
- 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.
- Eccl 7:13–14Consider the work of God: for who can make that straight, which he hath made crooked?
- Luke 17:26–30And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man.
- Eccl 11:9Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth; and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes: but know thou, that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment.
- Heb 3:7–11Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear his voice,
- Luke 13:25When once the master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door, and ye begin to stand without, and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us; and he shall answer and say unto you, I know you not whence ye are:
- Isa 3:11–14Woe unto the wicked! it shall be ill with him: for the reward of his hands shall be given him.
- Isa 22:12–14And in that day did the Lord GOD of hosts call to weeping, and to mourning, and to baldness, and to girding with sackcloth:
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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 8:6 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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