Christian Standard Bible
Ecclesiastes 7:24
24What exists is beyond reach and very deep. Who can discover it?
Ecclesiastes 7:24 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)That which is far off, and exceeding deep, who can find it out?
- New International Version (NIV)Whatever exists is far off and most profound— who can discover it?
- English Standard Version (ESV)That which has been is far off, and deep, very deep; who can find it out?
- New King James Version (NKJV)As for that which is far off and exceedingly deep, Who can find it out?
Context of Ecclesiastes 7:24
22for in your heart you know that many times you yourself have cursed others. 23I have tested all this by wisdom. I resolved, “I will be wise,” but it was beyond me. What exists is beyond reach and very deep. Who can discover it? 25I turned my thoughts to know, explore, and examine wisdom and an explanation for things, and to know that wickedness is stupidity and folly is madness. 26And I find more bitter than death the woman who is a trap: her heart a net and her hands chains. The one who pleases God will escape her, but the sinner will be captured by her.
Read all of Ecclesiastes 7Ecclesiastes 7:24 word by word
רָח֖וֹק מַה־שֶּׁהָיָ֑ה וְעָמֹ֥ק׀ עָמֹ֖ק מִ֥י יִמְצָאֶֽנּוּ׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Ecclesiastes 7:24
- Deuteronomy 30:11“This command that I give you today is certainly not too difficult or beyond your reach.
- Job 11:7Can you fathom the depths of God or discover the limits of the Almighty?
- Job 28:12But where can wisdom be found, and where is understanding located?
- Psalms 36:6Your righteousness is like the highest mountains, your judgments like the deepest sea. Lord, you preserve people and animals.
- Psalms 139:6This wondrous knowledge is beyond me. It is lofty; I am unable to reach it.
- Isaiah 55:8“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, and your ways are not my ways.” This is the Lord’s declaration.
- Romans 11:33Oh, the depth of the riches and the wisdom and the knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments and untraceable his ways!
- 1 Timothy 6:16who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see, to him be honor and eternal power. Amen.
Commentaries on Ecclesiastes 7:24
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 24That which is far off - Though the wisdom that is essential to our salvation may be soon learned, through the teaching of the Spirit of wisdom, yet in wisdom itself there are extents and depths which none can reach or fathom.Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 24literally, Far off is that which hath been i. e., events as they have occurred in the order of Divine Providence), and deep, deep, who can find it out?Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 23-29Verses 23-29 Solomon, in his search into the nature and reason of things, had been miserably deluded. But he here speaks with godly sorrow. He alone who constantly aims to please God, can expect to escape; the careless sinner probably will fall to rise no more. He now discovered more than ever the evil of the great sin of which he had been guilty, the loving many strange women, I Kin. 11:1. A woman thoroughly upright and godly, he had not found. How was…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 23-25it was beyond me: The Teacher could not find the wisdom or reasons he sought. Such reasons are hidden in God's mind (Ecclesiastes 3:11; 8:17).Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 2424. That ... far off ... deep--True wisdom is so when sought independently of "fear of God" (Ec 7:18; De 30:12, 13; Job 11:7, 8; 28:12-20, 28; Psa 64:6; Ro 10:6, 7).Read the comment
Topics related to Ecclesiastes 7:24
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Ecclesiastes 7
- 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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