Ecclesiastes 8:7
5 Whoever keeps his command will come to no harm, and a wise heart knows the right time and procedure.
6 For there is a right time and procedure to every purpose, though a man’s misery weighs heavily upon him.
Since no one knows what will happen, who can tell him what is to come?
8 As no man has power over the wind to contain it, so no one has authority over his day of death. As no one can be discharged in wartime, so wickedness will not release those who practice it.
9 All this I have seen, applying my mind to every deed that is done under the sun; there is a time when one man lords it over another to his own detriment.
Do read the surrounding verses too, because the context often says more than a single verse.
Compare
- BSB
- Since no one knows what will happen, who can tell him what is to come?
- KJV
- For he knoweth not that which shall be: for who can tell him when it shall be?
- WEB
- For he doesn’t know that which will be; for who can tell him how it will be?
- ASV
- for he knoweth not that which shall be; for who can tell him how it shall be?
- DARBY
- for he knoweth not that which shall be; for who can tell him how it shall be?
- BLB
- Indeed, he is not knowing what will happen; for when it will be, who can declare [it] to him?
- ÅB
- for han vet ikke hva som skal hende; for hvem kan si ham hvordan det vil gå?
- OTB
- Siden ingen vet hva som vil skje, hvem kan fortelle dem når det vil inntreffe?
- B1930
- for han vet ikke hvad som skal hende; for hvem kan si ham hvorledes det vil gå?
Study notes (Tyndale)
Original text and word study
Cross references
Ecclesiastes 10:14
Yet the fool multiplies words. No one knows what is coming, and who can tell him what will come after him?
Read in contextEcclesiastes 9:12
For surely no man knows his time: Like fish caught in a cruel net or birds trapped in a snare, so men are ensnared in an evil time that suddenly falls upon them.
Read in contextMatthew 24:50
The master of that servant will come on a day he does not expect and at an hour he does not anticipate.
Read in contextEcclesiastes 6:12
For who knows what is good for a man during the few days in which he passes through his fleeting life like a shadow? Who can tell a man what will come after him under the sun?
Read in contextProverbs 24:22
For they will bring sudden destruction. Who knows what ruin they can bring?
Read in contextMatthew 25:6–13
At midnight the cry rang out: ‘Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’
Read in contextEcclesiastes 3:22
I have seen that there is nothing better for a man than to enjoy his work, because that is his lot. For who can bring him to see what will come after him?
Read in contextMatthew 24:44
For this reason, you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour you do not expect.
Read in context