Text -- Ecclesiastes 8:17 (NET)

8:17 then I discerned all that God has done: No one really comprehends what happens on earth. Despite all human efforts to discover it, no one can ever grasp it. Even if a wise person claimed that he understood, he would not really comprehend it.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Ecc 8:17

¹ tn Heb “all the work of God.”

² tn Heb “the work that is done.”

³ tn Heb “under the sun.”

⁴ tn Heb “his”; the referent (man, in a generic sense) has been specified in the translation as the adjective “human” for clarity.

⁵ tn Heb “find.”

⁶ tn The term “it” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for smoothness.

⁷ tn The particle אִם (’im, “even if”) introduces the protasis in a real conditional clause (“If a wise man …”); see IBHS 636-37 §38.2d; R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 74, §453.

⁸ tn The imperfect tense verb יֹאמַר (yo’mar, “to say”) functions in a modal sense, denoting possibility (see IBHS 508 §31.4e; R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 31, §169).

⁹ tn Heb “he cannot find”; or “he does not find.”

¹⁰ tn The term “it” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is an implied direct object and has been supplied in the translation for smoothness and stylistic reasons.