For he knoweth not that which shall be: for who can tell him when it shall be?
Parallel translations
- WEB For he doesn’t know that which will be; for who can tell him how it will be?
- BSB Since no one knows what will happen, who can tell him what is to come?
- NKJV For he does not know what will happen; So who can tell him when it will occur?
- NASB If no one knows what will happen, who can tell him when it will happen?
- NLT Indeed, how can people avoid what they don’t know is going to happen?
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
No one knows what is coming, and no one can tell another how the future will unfold. Human ignorance of the future is a recurring theme that humbles our pride.
Overview
Qoheleth stresses the limits of human knowledge: the future is hidden from us. This uncertainty is part of why life 'under the sun' is so frustrating and why people cannot control outcomes. It directs faith away from self-sufficiency toward the God who alone knows and holds the future (James 4:13-15; Isaiah 46:9-10).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Eccl 10:14A fool also is full of words: a man cannot tell what shall be; and what shall be after him, who can tell him?
- Matt 24:50The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of,
- Eccl 9:12For man also knoweth not his time: as the fishes that are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare; so are the sons of men snared in an evil time, when it falleth suddenly upon them.
- Prov 24:22For their calamity shall rise suddenly; and who knoweth the ruin of them both?
- Eccl 6:12For who knoweth what is good for man in this life, all the days of his vain life which he spendeth as a shadow? for who can tell a man what shall be after him under the sun?
- Matt 25:6–13And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him.
- Matt 24:44Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.
- Eccl 3:22Wherefore I perceive that there is nothing better, than that a man should rejoice in his own works; for that is his portion: for who shall bring him to see what shall be after him?
- Prov 29:1He, that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy.
- 1 Th 5:1–3But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you.
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 8:7 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.