I have thought deeply about all that goes on here under the sun, where people have the power to hurt each other.
Parallel translations
- WEB All this I have seen, and applied my mind to every work that is done under the sun. There is a time in which one man has power over another to his hurt.
- KJV All this have I seen, and applied my heart unto every work that is done under the sun: there is a time wherein one man ruleth over another to his own hurt.
- BSB All this I have seen, applying my mind to every deed that is done under the sun; there is a time when one man lords it over another to his own detriment.
- NKJV All this I have seen, and applied my heart to every work that is done under the sun: There is a time in which one man rules over another to his own hurt.
- NASB All this I have seen, and have applied my mind to every deed that has been done under the sun at a time when one person has exercised authority over another person to his detriment.
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
Observing all human labor, the Preacher notes that people often wield power over one another to their hurt. Sin twists authority into oppression in a fallen world.
Overview
Qoheleth reflects on how dominion is frequently abused, with one person harming another. This is part of the 'vanity' he repeatedly exposes. It exposes the brokenness of human rule and stirs longing for the righteous reign of Christ, who exercises power not to harm but to serve and save (Mark 10:42-45).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Eccl 5:8If you see the oppression of the poor, and the violent taking away of justice and righteousness in a district, don’t marvel at the matter: for one official is eyed by a higher one; and there are officials over them.
- Eccl 4:7–8Then I returned and saw vanity under the sun.
- Eccl 5:13There is a grievous evil which I have seen under the sun: wealth kept by its owner to his harm.
- Exod 14:28The waters returned, and covered the chariots and the horsemen, even all Pharaoh’s army that went in after them into the sea. There remained not so much as one of them.
- Eccl 3:10I have seen the burden which God has given to the sons of men to be afflicted with.
- 2 Kgs 14:10–12You have indeed struck Edom, and your heart has lifted you up. Enjoy the glory of it, and stay at home; for why should you meddle to your harm, that you fall, even you, and Judah with you?’”
- Deut 2:30But Sihon king of Heshbon would not let us pass by him; for Yahweh your God hardened his spirit, and made his heart obstinate, that he might deliver him into your hand, as it is today.
- Exod 14:5–9The king of Egypt was told that the people had fled; and the heart of Pharaoh and of his servants was changed towards the people, and they said, “What is this we have done, that we have let Israel go from serving us?”
- Eccl 1:14I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and behold, all is vanity and a chasing after wind.
- Eccl 7:25I turned around, and my heart sought to know and to search out, and to seek wisdom and the scheme of things, and to know that wickedness is stupidity, and that foolishness is madness.
- 2 Kgs 25:7They killed Zedekiah’s sons before his eyes, then put out Zedekiah’s eyes, bound him in fetters, and carried him to Babylon.
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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 8:9 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.