Ecclesiastes 1:15

Ecclesiastes 1:15 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)That which is crooked cannot be made straight: and that which is wanting cannot be numbered.
• New International Version (NIV)What is crooked cannot be straightened; what is lacking cannot be counted.
• English Standard Version (ESV)What is crooked cannot be made straight, and what is lacking cannot be counted.
• New King James Version (NKJV)What is crooked cannot be made straight, And what is lacking cannot be numbered.

Context of Ecclesiastes 1:15

13I decided to study everything that happens on the earth. I used wisdom to try to understand these things. I realized that God has given people hard work to do, which causes them to suffer. 14I thought about all the things that people do on the earth. I realized that all these things have no purpose. It is like somebody who tries to catch the wind. If someone has bent something, you cannot always make it straight again. You cannot count things, if they are not there. 16I said to myself, ‘Listen! I have become very wise! I am much wiser than any of the kings who ruled in Jerusalem before me. I know a lot more things than they ever did!’ 17So I decided to study how much wisdom and knowledge really help a person. I wanted to learn if it was better than someone who only does foolish things. But this was also useless, like somebody who tries to catch the wind.

Ecclesiastes 1:15 word by word

מְעֻוָּ֖ת לֹא־יוּכַ֣ל לִתְקֹ֑ן וְחֶסְר֖וֹן לֹא־יוּכַ֥ל לְהִמָּנֽוֹת׃Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• crookedעָוַת‛âvath · to pervertH5791
• cannotיָכֹלyâkôl yâkôl · be ableH3201
• be made straightתָּקַןtâqan · be straightH8626
• and that which is wantingחֶסְרוֹןchesrôn · deficiencyH2642
• be numberedמָנָהmânâh · to countH4487

Cross-references for Ecclesiastes 1:15

• Ecclesiastes 3:14I know that everything that God does continues for ever. Nobody can add anything to it. Nobody can take anything away from it. God does these things so that people will respect his authority.
• Ecclesiastes 7:12Both wisdom and money can keep you safe. But wisdom is better. If you are wise, your knowledge can save your life.
• Job 11:6He would show you the secret of wisdom. True wisdom is not easy to understand. But you must understand this: God is punishing you less than you deserve.
• Job 34:29But if God decides to do nothing, no one can say that he is wrong. If he hides himself, no one can see him. But he still rules over people and over nations.
• Isaiah 40:4Raise up every valley, and bring down every mountain and hill. The rough ground and the ground that has rocks will become flat.
• Lamentations 3:37The Lord causes things to happen. Nobody can cause things to happen without him.
• Daniel 4:35All the people on the earth seem like nothing to him. He does whatever he wants among the angels in heaven, and among the people on the earth too. Nobody can stop him. Nobody can ask him, ‘Why are you doing that?’
• Matthew 6:27Even if you always worry about your life, you cannot make it as much as one hour longer!

Commentaries on Ecclesiastes 1:15

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 15That which is crooked cannot be made straight - There are many apparent irregularities and anomalies in nature for which we cannot account; and there are many defects that cannot be supplied. This is the impression from a general view of nature; but the more we study and investigate its operations, the more we shall be convinced that all is a consecutive and well-ordered whole; and that in the chain of nature not one link is broken, deficient, or lost.Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 15He saw clearly both the disorder and incompleteness of human actions (compare the marginal reference), and also man‘s impotence to rectify them.Read the comment
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 12-18Verses 12-18 Solomon tried all things, and found them vanity. He found his searches after knowledge weariness, not only to the flesh, but to the mind. The more he saw of the works done under the sun, the more he saw their vanity; and the sight often vexed his spirit. He could neither gain that satisfaction to himself, nor do that good to others, which he expected. Even the pursuit of knowledge and wisdom discovered man's wickedness and misery; so that the…Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 12-18The Teacher examines how wisdom, work, and pleasure relate to each other.Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 1515. Investigation (Ec 1:13) into human ways is vain labor, for they are hopelessly "crooked" and "cannot be made straight" by it (Ec 7:13). God, the chief good, alone can do this (Is 40:4; 45:2). wanting--(Da 5:27). numbered--so as to make a complete number; so equivalent to "supplied" [Maurer]. Or, rather, man's state is utterly wanting; and that which is wholly defective cannot be numbered or calculated. The investigator thinks he can draw up, in…Read the comment

Topics related to Ecclesiastes 1:15

• Instruction
• Investigation
• Science

In the dictionaries

• Sun
• Vanity
• Crooked
• Ecclesiastes, the Preacher
• Synagogue, the Great
• teacher, Teacher

Commentaries on Ecclesiastes 1

• 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
• Original Douay–Rheims Annotations
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
• EGW Writings