Ecclesiastes 8:7
New International Version
Since no one knows the future, who can tell someone else what is to come?

New Living Translation
Indeed, how can people avoid what they don’t know is going to happen?

English Standard Version
For he does not know what is to be, for who can tell him how it will be?

Berean Standard Bible
Since no one knows what will happen, who can tell him what is to come?

King James Bible
For he knoweth not that which shall be: for who can tell him when it shall be?

New King James Version
For he does not know what will happen; So who can tell him when it will occur?

New American Standard Bible
If no one knows what will happen, who can tell him when it will happen?

NASB 1995
If no one knows what will happen, who can tell him when it will happen?

NASB 1977
If no one knows what will happen, who can tell him when it will happen?

Legacy Standard Bible
If no one knows what will happen, who can tell him when it will happen?

Amplified Bible
For no one knows what will happen; So who can tell him how and when it will happen?

Christian Standard Bible
Yet no one knows what will happen because who can tell him what will happen?

Holman Christian Standard Bible
Yet no one knows what will happen because who can tell him what will happen?

American Standard Version
for he knoweth not that which shall be; for who can tell him how it shall be?

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
Because there is no one who knows what has been, and what will happen to him. Who shows him what comes after him?

Brenton Septuagint Translation
For there is no one that knows what is going to be: for who shall tell him how it shall be?

Contemporary English Version
though no one can tell the future.

Douay-Rheims Bible
Because he is ignorant of things past, and things to come he cannot know by any messenger.

English Revised Version
for he knoweth not that which shall be; for who can tell him how it shall be?

GOD'S WORD® Translation
They don't know what the future will bring. So who can tell them how things will turn out?

Good News Translation
None of us knows what is going to happen, and there is no one to tell us.

International Standard Version
For he has absolutely no knowledge what will happen, since who can declare to him when it will come about?

JPS Tanakh 1917
For he knoweth not that which shall be; for even when it cometh to pass, who shall declare it unto him?

Literal Standard Version
For he does not know that which will be, for when it will be who declares to him?

Majority Standard Bible
Since no one knows what will happen, who can tell him what is to come?

New American Bible
that they are ignorant of what is to come; for who will make known to them how it will be?

NET Bible
Surely no one knows the future, and no one can tell another person what will happen.

New Revised Standard Version
Indeed, they do not know what is to be, for who can tell them how it will be?

New Heart English Bible
For he doesn't know that which will be; for who can tell him how it will be?

Webster's Bible Translation
For he knoweth not that which shall be: for who can tell him when it shall be?

World English Bible
For he doesn’t know that which will be; for who can tell him how it will be?

Young's Literal Translation
For he knoweth not that which shall be, for when it shall be who declareth to him?

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Obey the King
6For there is a right time and procedure to every purpose, though a man’s misery weighs heavily upon him. 7Since no one knows what will happen, who can tell him what is to come? 8As 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.…

Cross References
Ecclesiastes 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?

Ecclesiastes 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?

Ecclesiastes 7:14
In the day of prosperity, be joyful, but in the day of adversity, consider this: God has made one of these along with the other, so that a man cannot discover anything that will come after him.

Ecclesiastes 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.

Ecclesiastes 10:14
Yet the fool multiplies words. No one knows what is coming, and who can tell him what will come after him?


Treasury of Scripture

For he knows not that which shall be: for who can tell him when it shall be?

he knoweth

Ecclesiastes 6:12
For who knoweth what is good for man in this life, all the days of his vain life which he spendeth as a shadow? for who can tell a man what shall be after him under the sun?

Ecclesiastes 9:12
For man also knoweth not his time: as the fishes that are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare; so are the sons of men snared in an evil time, when it falleth suddenly upon them.

Ecclesiastes 10:14
A fool also is full of words: a man cannot tell what shall be; and what shall be after him, who can tell him?

when

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Ecclesiastes 8
1. true wisdom is modest
2. Kings are to be respected
6. Divine providence is to be observed
12. It is better with the godly in adversity, than with the wicked in prosperity
16. The work of God is unsearchable














Verse 7. - For he knoweth not that which shall be. The subject may be man in general, or more probably the evil tyrant. The clause contains a third reason for patience. The despot cannot foresee the future, and goes on blindly filling up the measure of his iniquity, being unable to take any precautions against his inevitable fate (Proverbs 24:22). Quem Deus vult perdere prius dementat. For who can tell him when it shall be? rather, how it shall be. The fourth portion of the argument. The infatuated man knows not the time when the blow will fall, nor, as here, the manner in which the retribution will come, the form which it will take. Septuagint," For how it shall be, who will tell him?" The Vulgate paraphrases inaccurately, Quia ignorat prae-terita, et futura nullo scire potest nuntio, "Because he knoweth not the past, and the future he can ascertain by no messenger."

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
Since
כִּֽי־ (kî-)
Conjunction
Strong's 3588: A relative conjunction

no one
אֵינֶ֥נּוּ (’ê·nen·nū)
Adverb | third person masculine singular
Strong's 369: A non-entity, a negative particle

knows
יֹדֵ֖עַ (yō·ḏê·a‘)
Verb - Qal - Participle - masculine singular
Strong's 3045: To know

what
מַה־ (mah-)
Interrogative
Strong's 4100: What?, what!, indefinitely what

will happen,
שֶּׁיִּֽהְיֶ֑ה (še·yih·yeh)
Pronoun - relative | Verb - Qal - Imperfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 1961: To fall out, come to pass, become, be

who
מִ֖י (mî)
Interrogative
Strong's 4310: Who?, whoever, in oblique construction with prefix, suffix

can tell
יַגִּ֥יד (yag·gîḏ)
Verb - Hifil - Imperfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 5046: To be conspicuous

him
לֽוֹ׃ (lōw)
Preposition | third person masculine singular
Strong's Hebrew

what
כַּאֲשֶׁ֣ר (ka·’ă·šer)
Preposition-k | Pronoun - relative
Strong's 834: Who, which, what, that, when, where, how, because, in order that

is to come?
יִֽהְיֶ֔ה (yih·yeh)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 1961: To fall out, come to pass, become, be


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OT Poetry: Ecclesiastes 8:7 For he doesn't know that which will (Ecclesiast. Ec Ecc Eccles.)
Ecclesiastes 8:6
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