Ecclesiastes 8:7

7 No one knows what lies ahead. So who can tell a person what's going to happen?

Ecclesiastes 8:7 Meaning and Commentary

Ecclesiastes 8:7

For he knoweth not that which shall be
Or that "it shall be" ^F2; that he ever shall have the opportunity again he has lost, nor what is to come hereafter; what shall be on the morrow, or what shall befall him in the remaining part of his days; what troubles and sorrows he shall meet with, or what will be the case and circumstances of his family after his death; for who can tell him when it shall be?
or "how it shall be" ^F3? how it will be with him or his; no one that pretends to judicial astrology, or to the art of divination, or any such devices, can tell him what is to come; future things are only certainly known by God; none but he can tell what will certainly come to pass; see ( Ecclesiastes 3:22 ) ( 6:12 ) ; Jarchi interprets it of a man's not considering for what God will bring him to judgment, and that no man can tell him the vengeance and punishment that will be inflicted.

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FOOTNOTES:

F2 (hyhyv hm) "quod futurum est", Pagninus, Montanus.
F3 (hyhy rvak) "quo modo", Junius & Tremellius, Gejerus, Rambachius, so Broughton.

Ecclesiastes 8:7 In-Context

5 No one who obeys his command will be harmed. Those who are wise will know the proper time and way to approach him.

6 There's a proper time and way for people to do everything. That's true even though a man might be suffering greatly.

7 No one knows what lies ahead. So who can tell a person what's going to happen?

8 He can't stop the wind from blowing. And he doesn't have the power to decide when he will die. No one is let out of the army in times of war. And evil won't let go of those who practice it.

9 I understood all of those things. I used my mind to study everything that's done on earth. A man sometimes makes life hard for others. But he ends up hurting himself.