Berean Standard Bible
Ecclesiastes 8:7
7Since no one knows what will happen, who can tell him what is to come?
Ecclesiastes 8:7 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)For he knoweth not that which shall be: for who can tell him when it shall be?
- New International Version (NIV)Since no one knows the future, who can tell someone else what is to come?
- English Standard Version (ESV)For he does not know what is to be, for who can tell him how it will be?
- New King James Version (NKJV)For he does not know what will happen; So who can tell him when it will occur?
Context of Ecclesiastes 8:7
5Whoever keeps his command will come to no harm, and a wise heart knows the right time and procedure. 6For there is a right time and procedure to every purpose, though a man’s misery weighs heavily upon him. Since no one knows what will happen, who can tell him what is to come? 8As no man has power over the wind to contain it, so no one has authority over his day of death. As no one can be discharged in wartime, so wickedness will not release those who practice it. 9All 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.
Read all of Ecclesiastes 8Ecclesiastes 8:7 word by word
כִּֽי־אֵינֶ֥נּוּ יֹדֵ֖עַ מַה־שֶּׁיִּֽהְיֶ֑ה כִּ֚י כַּאֲשֶׁ֣ר יִֽהְיֶ֔ה מִ֖י יַגִּ֥יד לֽוֹ׃Read the interlinear
Cross-references for Ecclesiastes 8:7
- Ecclesiastes 6:12For who knows what is good for a man during the few days in which he passes through his fleeting life like a shadow? Who can tell a man what will come after him under the sun?
- Ecclesiastes 9:12For surely no man knows his time: Like fish caught in a cruel net or birds trapped in a snare, so men are ensnared in an evil time that suddenly falls upon them.
- Ecclesiastes 10:14Yet the fool multiplies words. No one knows what is coming, and who can tell him what will come after him?
- Proverbs 24:22For they will bring sudden destruction. Who knows what ruin they can bring?
- Proverbs 29:1A man who remains stiff-necked after much reproof will suddenly be shattered beyond recovery.
- Matthew 24:44For this reason, you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour you do not expect.
- Matthew 25:6At midnight the cry rang out: ‘Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’
- 1 Thessalonians 5:1Now about the times and seasons, brothers, we do not need to write to you.
Commentaries on Ecclesiastes 8:7
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 7When - Or, as in the margin. For the meaning of this verse, compare marginal references.Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 6-8Verses 6-8 God has, in wisdom, kept away from us the knowledge of future events, that we may be always ready for changes. We must all die, no flight or hiding-place can save us, nor are there any weapons of effectual resistance. Ninety thousand die every day, upwards of sixty every minute, and one every moment. How solemn the thought! Oh that men were wise, that they understood these things, that they would consider their latter end! The believer alone is…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 7-8Our strength, goodness, and wisdom cannot prevent disasters, so choosing wickedness would be pointless.Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 77. he--the sinner, by neglecting times (for example, "the accepted time, and the day of salvation, 2Co 6:2), is taken by surprise by the judgment (Ec 3:22; 6:12; 9:12). The godly wise observe the due times of things (Ec 3:1), and so, looking for the judgment, are not taken by surprise, though not knowing the precise "when" (1Th 5:2-4); they "know the time" to all saving purposes (Ro 13:11).Read the comment
Topics related to Ecclesiastes 8:7
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Ecclesiastes 8
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
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