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Ecclesiastes 8:16-17

Context
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 

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[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 גַםכִּי (kigam) 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 (yomar, “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.



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