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Ecclesiastes 8:16
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14 There is a vanity which occurs on earth, that there are just men to whom it ahappens according to the work of the wicked; again, there are wicked men to whom it happens according to the work of the brighteous. I said that this also is vanity.  
15 aSo I commended enjoyment, because a man has nothing better under the sun than to eat, drink, and be merry; for this will remain with him in his labor all the days of his life which God gives him under the sun.  
16 When I applied my heart to know wisdom and to see the business that is done on earth, even though one sees no sleep day or night,
17 then I saw all the work of God, that aa man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun. For though a man labors to discover it, yet he will not find it; moreover, though a wise man attempts to know it, he will not be able to find it. 
Commentaries:
Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown
<< Ecclesiastes 8:15   Ecclesiastes 8:17 >>


Ecclesiastes 8:16

Reply to Ecclesiastes 8:14-15. When I applied myself to observe man's toils after happiness (some of them so incessant as not to allow sufficient time for "sleep"), then (Ecclesiastes 8:17, the apodosis) I saw that man cannot find out (the reason of) God's inscrutable dealings with the "just" and with the "wicked" here (Ecclesiastes 8:14; Ecclesiastes 3:11; Job 5:9; Romans 11:33); his duty is to acquiesce in them as good, because they are God's, though he sees not all the reasons for them (Psalms 73:16). It is enough to know "the righteous are in God's hand" (Ecclesiastes 9:1). "Over wise" (Ecclesiastes 7:16); that is, Speculations above what is written are vain.


 
<< Ecclesiastes 8:15   Ecclesiastes 8:17 >>

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