Ecclesiastes 7:24

Good News Translation

How can anyone discover what life means? It is too deep for us, too hard to understand.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
What exists is beyond reach and very deep. Who can discover it?

Hebrew Names Version
That which is, is far off and exceedingly deep. Who can find it out?

King James Version
That which is far off, and exceeding deep, who can find it out?

English Standard Version
That which has been is far off, and deep, very deep; who can find it out?

New American Standard Bible
What has been is remote and very mysterious. Who can discover it?

New Century Version
I cannot understand why things are as they are. It is too hard for anyone to understand.

Amplified Bible
Whatever has been is far off, deeply remote and exceedingly mysterious. Who can discover it [for it is beyond the grasp of man]?

World English Bible
That which is, is far off and exceedingly deep. Who can find it out?

Geneva Bible (1587)
It is farre off, what may it be? and it is a profound deepenesse, who can finde it?

Legacy Standard Bible
What has been is far away and exceedingly deep. Who can find it?

Berean Standard Bible
What exists is out of reach and very deep. Who can fathom it?

Contemporary English Version
The truth is beyond us. It's far too deep.

Complete Jewish Bible
That which exists is far away and deep, so deep, that it can't be discovered.

Darby Translation
Whatever hath been, is far off, and exceeding deep: who will find it out?

Easy-to-Read Version
I cannot understand why things are as they are. It is too hard for anyone to understand.

George Lamsa Translation
Yea, wisdom was far off; it also had depth beyond depth; who can find it out?

Lexham English Bible
Whatever is—it is far beyond comprehension. Who can discover it?

Literal Translation
That which is far off and exceeding deep, who can find it out?

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
then she was before, yee & so depe that I might not reach vnto her.

American Standard Version
That which is, is far off and exceeding deep; who can find it out?

Bible in Basic English
Far off is true existence, and very deep; who may have knowledge of it?

JPS Old Testament (1917)
That which is is far off, and exceeding deep; who can find it out?

King James Version (1611)
That which is farre off, and exceeding deepe, who can finde it out?

Bishop's Bible (1568)
yea and so deepe, that I might not reache vnto her.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
All these things have I proved in wisdom: I said, I will be wise; but it was far from me.

English Revised Version
That which is is far off, and exceeding deep; who can find it out?

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
and the depthe is hiy, who schal fynde it?

Update Bible Version
That which is, is far off and exceeding deep; who can find it out?

Webster's Bible Translation
That which is far off, and exceedingly deep, who can find it out?

New English Translation
Whatever has happened is beyond human understanding; it is far deeper than anyone can fathom.

New King James Version
As for that which is far off and exceedingly deep, Who can find it out?

New Living Translation
Wisdom is always distant and difficult to find.

New Life Bible
Wisdom has been far away and hidden. Who can find it?

New Revised Standard
That which is, is far off, and deep, very deep; who can find it out?

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Far away, is that which hath been, - and deep, deep, who can find it out?

Douay-Rheims Bible
(7-25) Much more than it was: it is a great depth, who shall find it out?

Revised Standard Version
That which is, is far off, and deep, very deep; who can find it out?

Young's Literal Translation
Far off [is] that which hath been, and deep, deep, who doth find it?

New American Standard Bible (1995)
What has been is remote and exceedingly mysterious. Who can discover it?

Contextual Overview

²³ I used my wisdom to test all of this. I was determined to be wise, but it was beyond me. ²⁴ How can anyone discover what life means? It is too deep for us, too hard to understand. ²⁵ But I devoted myself to knowledge and study; I was determined to find wisdom and the answers to my questions, and to learn how wicked and foolish stupidity is. ²⁶ I found something more bitter than death—the woman who is like a trap. The love she offers you will catch you like a net, and her arms around you will hold you like a chain. A man who pleases God can get away, but she will catch the sinner. ²⁷ Yes, said the Philosopher, I found this out little by little while I was looking for answers. ²⁸ I have looked for other answers but have found none. I found one man in a thousand that I could respect, but not one woman. ²⁹ This is all that I have learned: God made us plain and simple, but we have made ourselves very complicated.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Deuteronomy 30:11-14, Job 11:7, Job 11:8, Job 28:12-23, Job 28:28, Psalms 36:6, Psalms 139:6, Isaiah 55:8, Isaiah 55:9, Romans 11:33, 1 Timothy 6:16

Reciprocal: Job 28:20 - General Psalms 92:5 - deep Ecclesiastes 1:8 - man Ecclesiastes 7:28 - yet Ecclesiastes 8:17 - that a man Ecclesiastes 11:5 - even

Cross-References

Genesis 7:3
Take also seven pairs of each kind of bird. Do this so that every kind of animal and bird will be kept alive to reproduce again on the earth.

Genesis 7:4
Seven days from now I am going to send rain that will fall for forty days and nights, in order to destroy all the living beings that I have made."

Gill's Notes on the Bible

That which is far off,.... Or, "far off [is] that which has been" g. That which has been done by God already, in creation and providence, is out of the reach of men, is far from their understandings wholly to comprehend or account for; and likewise that which is past with men, what has been done in former ages, the history of past times, is very difficult to come at: or rather, according to Schmidt, and Rambachius after him, what was of old is now afar off or absent; the image of God in man which consisted of perfect wisdom, and was created at the same time with him, is now lost, and that is the reason why wisdom is far from him;

and exceeding deep, who can find it out? the primitive perfect wisdom is sunk so deep and gone, that no man can find it to the perfection it was once enjoyed; see Job 28:12. This may respect the knowledge of God, and the perfections of his nature; which are as high as heaven, and deeper than hell, Job 11:7; and of his thoughts, counsels, purposes, and decrees, which are the deep things of God; as well as the doctrines of the Gospel, and the mysteries of grace, 1 Corinthians 2:10; and even his providential dispensations towards the sons of men, Romans 11:33. The Targum of the whole is,

"Lo, now it is far off from the children of men to know all that has been from the days of old; and the secret of the day of death, and the secret of the day in which the King Messiah shall come, who is he that shall find it out by his wisdom?''

g רחוק מה שהיה "remotum (est) illud quod fuit", Montanus, Mercerus, Vatablus, Drusius, Gejerus.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

literally, Far off is that which hath been i. e., events as they have occurred in the order of Divine Providence), and deep, deep, who can find it out?

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 24. That which is far off — Though the wisdom that is essential to our salvation may be soon learned, through the teaching of the Spirit of wisdom, yet in wisdom itself there are extents and depths which none can reach or fathom.