Ecclesiastes 3:6

3:6 A time to search, and a time to give something up as lost; ¹ 

a time to keep, and a time to throw away;

Ecclesiastes 8:17

8:17 then I discerned all that God has done: ² 

No one really comprehends what happens ³  on earth. ⁴ 

Despite all human ⁵  efforts to discover it, no one can ever grasp ⁶  it. ⁷ 

Even if ⁸  a wise person claimed ⁹  that he understood,

he would not really comprehend ¹⁰  it. ¹¹ 

[3:6]  ¹ tn The term לְאַבֵּד (lÿ’abbed, Piel infinitive construct from אָבַד, ’avad, “to destroy”) means “to lose” (e.g., Jer 23:1) as the contrast with בָּקַשׁ (baqash, “to seek to find”) indicates (HALOT 3 s.v. I אבד; BDB 2 s.v. אבד 3). This is the declarative or delocutive-estimative sense of the Piel: “to view something as lost” (R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 28, §145; IBHS 403 §24.2g).

[8:17]  ² tn Heb “all the work of God.”

[8:17]  ³ tn Heb “the work that is done.”

[8:17]  ⁴ tn Heb “under the sun.”

[8:17]  ⁵ tn Heb “his”; the referent (man, in a generic sense) has been specified in the translation as the adjective “human” for clarity.

[8:17]  ⁶ tn Heb “find.”

[8:17]  ⁷ tn The term “it” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for smoothness.

[8:17]  ⁸ 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.

[8:17]  ⁹ 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).

[8:17]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “he cannot find”; or “he does not find.”

[8:17]  ¹¹ 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.