New International Version
Ecclesiastes 7:13
13Consider what God has done: Who can straighten what he has made crooked?
Ecclesiastes 7:13 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)Consider the work of God: for who can make that straight, which he hath made crooked?
- English Standard Version (ESV)Consider the work of God: who can make straight what he has made crooked?
- New King James Version (NKJV)Consider the work of God; For who can make straight what He has made crooked?
- New Living Translation (NLT)Accept the way God does things, for who can straighten what he has made crooked?
Context of Ecclesiastes 7:13
11Wisdom, like an inheritance, is a good thing and benefits those who see the sun. 12Wisdom is a shelter as money is a shelter, but the advantage of knowledge is this: Wisdom preserves those who have it. Consider what God has done: Who can straighten what he has made crooked? 14When times are good, be happy; but when times are bad, consider this: God has made the one as well as the other. Therefore, no one can discover anything about their future. 15In this meaningless life of mine I have seen both of these: the righteous perishing in their righteousness, and the wicked living long in their wickedness.
Read all of Ecclesiastes 7Ecclesiastes 7:13 word by word
רְאֵ֖ה אֶת־מַעֲשֵׂ֣ה הָאֱלֹהִ֑ים כִּ֣י מִ֤י יוּכַל֙ לְתַקֵּ֔ן אֵ֖ת אֲשֶׁ֥ר עִוְּתֽוֹ׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Ecclesiastes 7:13
- Job 37:14“Listen to this, Job; stop and consider God’s wonders.
- Psalms 8:3When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
- Psalms 107:43Let the one who is wise heed these things and ponder the loving deeds of the Lord.
- Isaiah 5:12They have harps and lyres at their banquets, pipes and timbrels and wine, but they have no regard for the deeds of the Lord, no respect for the work of his hands.
- Ecclesiastes 1:15What is crooked cannot be straightened; what is lacking cannot be counted.
- Job 9:12If he snatches away, who can stop him? Who can say to him, ‘What are you doing?’
- Job 11:10“If he comes along and confines you in prison and convenes a court, who can oppose him?
- Job 12:14What he tears down cannot be rebuilt; those he imprisons cannot be released.
- Job 34:29But if he remains silent, who can condemn him? If he hides his face, who can see him? Yet he is over individual and nation alike,
- Isaiah 14:27For the Lord Almighty has purposed, and who can thwart him? His hand is stretched out, and who can turn it back?
- Isaiah 43:13Yes, and from ancient days I am he. No one can deliver out of my hand. When I act, who can reverse it?”
- Isaiah 46:10I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say, ‘My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.’
- Daniel 4:35All the peoples of the earth are regarded as nothing. He does as he pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth. No one can hold back his hand or say to him: “What have you done?”
- Romans 9:15For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”
- Ephesians 1:11In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will,
Commentaries on Ecclesiastes 7:13
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 13Consider the work of God - Such is the nature of his providence, that it puts money into the hands of few: but wisdom is within the reach of all. The first is not necessary to happiness; therefore, it is not offered to men; the latter is; and therefore God, in his goodness, offers it to the whole human race. The former can rarely be acquired, for God puts it out of the reach of most men, and you cannot make that straight which he has made crooked; the…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 13The work of God - The scheme of Divine Providence, the course of events which God orders and controls (compare Ecclesiastes 3:11). It comprises both events which are “straight,” i. e., in accordance with our expectation, and events which are “crooked,” i. e., which by their seeming inequality baffle our comprehension.Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 11-22Verses 11-22 Wisdom is as good as an inheritance, yea better. It shelters from the storms and scorching heat of trouble. Wealth will not lengthen out the natural life; but true wisdom will give spiritual life, and strengthen men for services under their sufferings. Let us look upon the disposal of our condition as the work of God, and at last all will appear to have been for the best. In acts of righteousness, be not carried into heats or passions, no…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 13God's powerful actions cannot be resisted; trying to oppose or escape his plans is pointless.Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 1313. Consider as to God's work, that it is impossible to alter His dispensations; for who can, &c. straight ... crooked--Man cannot amend what God wills to be "wanting" and "adverse" (Ec 1:15; Job 12:14).Read the comment
Topics related to Ecclesiastes 7:13
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
New International Version — © NIV® 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 Biblica
Commentaries