Ecclesiastes 8:17

8:17 then I discerned all that God has done:75

No one really comprehends what happens76 on earth.77

Despite all human78 efforts to discover it, no one can ever grasp79 it.80

Even if81 a wise person claimed82 that he understood,

he would not really comprehend83 it.84

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75	tn Heb “all the work of God.”
76	tn Heb “the work that is done.”
77	tn Heb “under the sun.”
78	tn Heb “his”; the referent (man, in a generic sense) has been specified in the translation as the adjective “human” for clarity.
79	tn Heb “find.”
80	tn The term “it” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for smoothness.
81	tn The particle אִם (’im, “even if”) introduces the protasis in a real conditional clause (“If a wise man …”); see IBHS 636–37 §38.2d; R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 74, §453.
82	tn The imperfect tense verb יֹאמַר (yo’mar, “to say”) functions in a modal sense, denoting possibility (see IBHS 508 §31.4e; R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 31, §169).
83	tn Heb “he cannot find”; or “he does not find.”
84	tn The term “it” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is an implied direct object and has been supplied in the translation for smoothness and stylistic reasons.