Ecclesiastes 8:6

6 Time and season is to each work; and much torment is of a man,

Ecclesiastes 8:6 Meaning and Commentary

Ecclesiastes 8:6

Because to every purpose there is time and judgment
There is a fit season, and a right and proper manner of doing everything that is to be done; see ( Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 ) ; which a wise man discerns; and which when a man hits upon, it prevents a great deal of mischief, which for want of it comes upon men, as the following clause shows; some refer this to the punishment of the wicked, and to a future judgment. So the Targum,

``to every business there is a time good and evil, and according to the judgment of truth the whole world is judged;''
and to the same purpose Jarchi,
``there is a time fixed for the visitation of the wicked, and there is judgment before the Lord; this is vengeance or punishment;''
therefore the misery of man [is] great upon him;
he not observing the right time and manner of doing what he ought, brings much trouble upon himself; his days are few and full trouble, and every day has a sufficiency of evil in because of the evil of sin, the evil of misery presses upon him, and is a heavy burden on him Jarchi's note is,
``when the wickedness of a man is great, then cometh his visitation.''

Ecclesiastes 8:6 In-Context

4 and his word is full of power, and no man may say to him (and no one can say to him), Why doest thou so?
5 He that keepeth the commandment of God, shall not feel anything of evil; the heart of a wise man understandeth time and answer.
6 Time and season is to each work; and much torment is of a man,
7 for he knoweth not [the] things passed, and he may not know by any messenger [the] things to come.
8 It is not in the power of man to forbid the spirit, that is, his soul, from going out from the body, neither he hath power in the day of death, neither he is suffered to have rest, when the battle nigheth; neither wickedness shall save a wicked man.
Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.