Ecclesiastes 8:16-17

Limitations of Human Wisdom

8:16 When I tried ¹  to gain ²  wisdom

and to observe the activity ³  on earth –

even though it prevents anyone from sleeping day or night ⁴  –

8:17 then I discerned all that God has done: ⁵ 

No one really comprehends what happens ⁶  on earth. ⁷ 

Despite all human ⁸  efforts to discover it, no one can ever grasp ⁹  it. ¹⁰ 

Even if ¹¹  a wise person claimed ¹²  that he understood,

he would not really comprehend ¹³  it. ¹⁴ 

[8:16]  ¹ tn Heb “I applied my heart.”

[8:16]  ² tn Heb “to know.”

[8:16]  ³ tn Heb “and to see the business which is done.”

[8:16]  ⁴ tn Heb “for no one sees sleep with their eyes either day or night.” The construction גַם …כִּי (ki… gam) expresses a concessive sense: “even though” (e.g., Ps 23:4; Prov 22:6; Eccl 4:14; Isa 1:15; Lam 3:8; Hos 8:10; 9:16); cf. HALOT 196 s.v. גַּם 9; BDB 169 s.v. גַּם 6; 473 s.v. כִּי 2.c.

[8:17]  ⁵ tn Heb “all the work of God.”

[8:17]  ⁶ tn Heb “the work that is done.”

[8:17]  ⁷ tn Heb “under the sun.”

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

[8:17]  ⁹ tn Heb “find.”

[8:17]  ¹⁰ tn The term “it” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for smoothness.

[8:17]  ¹¹ 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]  ¹² 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]  ¹³ tn Heb “he cannot find”; or “he does not find.”

[8:17]  ¹⁴ 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.