Verse (Click for Chapter) New International Version He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. New Living Translation Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end. English Standard Version He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. Berean Standard Bible He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men, yet they cannot fathom the work that God has done from beginning to end. King James Bible He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end. New King James Version He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end. New American Standard Bible He has made everything appropriate in its time. He has also set eternity in their heart, without the possibility that mankind will find out the work which God has done from the beginning even to the end. NASB 1995 He has made everything appropriate in its time. He has also set eternity in their heart, yet so that man will not find out the work which God has done from the beginning even to the end. NASB 1977 He has made everything appropriate in its time. He has also set eternity in their heart, yet so that man will not find out the work which God has done from the beginning even to the end. Legacy Standard Bible He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in their heart, yet so that man will not find out the work which God has done from the beginning even to the end. Amplified Bible He has made everything beautiful and appropriate in its time. He has also planted eternity [a sense of divine purpose] in the human heart [a mysterious longing which nothing under the sun can satisfy, except God]—yet man cannot find out (comprehend, grasp) what God has done (His overall plan) from the beginning to the end. Christian Standard Bible He has made everything appropriate in its time. He has also put eternity in their hearts, but no one can discover the work God has done from beginning to end. Holman Christian Standard Bible He has made everything appropriate in its time. He has also put eternity in their hearts, but man cannot discover the work God has done from beginning to end. American Standard Version He hath made everything beautiful in its time: also he hath set eternity in their heart, yet so that man cannot find out the work that God hath done from the beginning even to the end. Aramaic Bible in Plain English All that he does is beautiful in its time, and he puts eternity in their heart, so that a man will not find the work that LORD JEHOVAH does from the beginning and until the latter end Brenton Septuagint Translation All the things which he has made are beautiful in his time: he has also set the whole world in their heart, that man might not find out the work which God has wrought from the beginning even to the end. Contemporary English Version God makes everything happen at the right time. Yet none of us can ever fully understand all he has done, and he puts questions in our minds about the past and the future. Douay-Rheims Bible He hath made all things good in their time, and hath delivered the world to their consideration, so that man cannot flnd out the work which God hath made from the beginning to the end. English Revised Version He hath made every thing beautiful in its time: also he hath set the world in their heart, yet so that man cannot find out the work that God hath done from the beginning even to the end. GOD'S WORD® Translation It is beautiful how God has done everything at the right time. He has put a sense of eternity in people's minds. Yet, mortals still can't grasp what God is doing from the beginning to the end [of time]. Good News Translation He has set the right time for everything. He has given us a desire to know the future, but never gives us the satisfaction of fully understanding what he does. International Standard Version He made everything appropriate in its time. He also placed eternity within them—yet, no person can fully comprehend what God is doing from beginning to end. JPS Tanakh 1917 He hath made every thing beautiful in its time; also He hath set the world in their heart, yet so that man cannot find out the work that God hath done from the beginning even to the end. Literal Standard Version The whole He has made beautiful in its season; also, that knowledge He has put in their heart without which man does not find out the work that God has done from the beginning even to the end. Majority Standard Bible He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men, yet they cannot fathom the work that God has done from beginning to end. New American Bible God has made everything appropriate to its time, but has put the timeless into their hearts so they cannot find out, from beginning to end, the work which God has done. NET Bible God has made everything fit beautifully in its appropriate time, but he has also placed ignorance in the human heart so that people cannot discover what God has ordained, from the beginning to the end of their lives. New Revised Standard Version He has made everything suitable for its time; moreover he has put a sense of past and future into their minds, yet they cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. New Heart English Bible He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in their hearts, yet so that man can't find out the work that God has done from the beginning even to the end. Webster's Bible Translation He hath made every thing beautiful in its time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end. World English Bible He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in their hearts, yet so that man can’t find out the work that God has done from the beginning even to the end. Young's Literal Translation The whole He hath made beautiful in its season; also, that knowledge He hath put in their heart without which man findeth not out the work that God hath done from the beginning even unto the end. Additional Translations ... Audio Bible Context God's Works Remain Forever…10I have seen the burden that God has laid upon the sons of men to occupy them. 11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men, yet they cannot fathom the work that God has done from beginning to end. 12I know that there is nothing better for them than to rejoice and do good while they live,… Cross References Romans 11:33 O, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments, and untraceable His ways! Genesis 1:31 And God looked upon all that He had made, and indeed, it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning--the sixth day. Job 5:9 the One who does great and unsearchable things, wonders without number. Proverbs 16:4 The LORD has made everything for His purpose--even the wicked for the day of disaster. Ecclesiastes 1:13 And I set my mind to seek and explore by wisdom all that is done under heaven. What a heavy burden God has laid upon the sons of men to occupy them! Ecclesiastes 7:13 Consider the work of God: Who can straighten what He has bent? Ecclesiastes 7:23 All this I tested by wisdom, saying, "I resolve to be wise." But it was beyond me. Treasury of Scripture He has made every thing beautiful in his time: also he has set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God makes from the beginning to the end. hath made Ecclesiastes 7:29 Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions. Genesis 1:31 And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day. Deuteronomy 32:4 He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he. also Matthew 13:22 He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful. Romans 1:19,20,28 Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them… Job 11:7 Canst thou by searching find out God? canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection? Job 37:23 Touching the Almighty, we cannot find him out: he is excellent in power, and in judgment, and in plenty of justice: he will not afflict. Psalm 104:24 O LORD, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all: the earth is full of thy riches. Jump to Previous Beautiful Beginning End Eternity Fathom Find First Heart Hearts Last Maketh Mind Right Time Unable Work Works WorldJump to Next Beautiful Beginning End Eternity Fathom Find First Heart Hearts Last Maketh Mind Right Time Unable Work Works WorldEcclesiastes 3 1. by the necessary change of times, vanity is added to human travail11. is an excellence in God's works 16. as for man, God shall judge his works hereafter, though here he be like a beast (11) In his time.--In modern English, "its." The world.--The word here translated "world" has that meaning in post-Biblical Hebrew, but never elsewhere in the Old Testament, where it occurs over 300 times. And if we adopt the rendering "world," it is difficult to explain the verse so as to connect it with the context. Where the word occurs elsewhere it means "eternity," or "long duration," and is so used in this book (Ecclesiastes 1:4; Ecclesiastes 1:10; Ecclesiastes 2:16; Ecclesiastes 3:14; Ecclesiastes 9:6; Ecclesiastes 12:5). Taking this meaning of the word here (the only place where the word is used with the article), we may regard it as contrasted with that for "time," or season, immediately before. Life exhibits a changing succession of weeping alternating with laughing, war with peace, and so forth. For each of these God has appointed its time or season, and in its season each is good. But man does not recognise this; for God has put in his heart an expectation and longing for abiding continuance of the same, and so he fails to understand the work which God does in the world. . . . Verse 11. - He hath made every thing beautiful in his (its) time. "Everything:" (eth hacol) does not refer so much to the original creation which God made very good (Genesis 1:31), as to the travail and business mentioned in ver. 10. All parts of this have, in God's design, a beauty and a harmony, their own season for appearance and development, their work to do in carrying on the majestic march of Providence. Also he hath set the world in their heart. "The world;" eth-haolam, placed (as haeol above) before the verb, with eth, to emphasize the relation. There is some uncertainty in the translation of this word. The LXX. has, Σύμπαντα τὸν αἰῶνα; Vulgate, Mundum tradidit disputationi eorum. The original meaning is "the hidden," and it is used generally in the Old Testament of the remote past, and sometimes of the future, as Daniel 3:33 [Daniel 4:3], so that the idea conveyed is of unknown duration, whether the glance looks backward or forward, which is equivalent to our word "eternity." It is only in later Hebrew that the word obtained the signification of "age" (αἰών), or "world" in its relation to time. Commentators who have adopted the latter sense here explain the expression as if it meant that man in himself is a microcosm, a little world, or that the love of the world, the love of life, is naturally implanted in him. But taking the term in the signification found throughout the Bible, we are justified in translating it "eternity." The pronoun in "their heart" refers to "the sons of men" in the previous verse. God has put into men's minds a notion of infinity of duration; the beginning and the end of things are alike beyond his grasp; the time to be born and the time to die are equally unknown and uncontrollable. Koheleth is not thinking of that hope of immortality which his words unfold to us with our better knowledge; he is speculating on the innate faculty of looking backward and forward which man possesses, but which is insufficient to solve the problems which present themselves every day. This conception of eternity may be the foundation of great hopes and expectations, but as an explanation of the ways of Providence it fails. So that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end; or, without man being able to penetrate; yet so that he cannot, etc. Man sees only minute parts of the great whole; he cannot comprehend all at one view, cannot understand the law that regulates the time and season of every circumstance in the history of man and the world. He feels that, as there has been an infinite past, there will be an infinite future, which may solve anomalies and demonstrate the harmonious unity of God's design, and he must be content to wait and hope. Comparison of the past with the present may help to adumbrate the future, but is inadequate to unravel the complicated thread of the world's history (comp. Ecclesiastes 8:16, 17, and Ecclesiastes 9:1, where a similar thought is expressed).Parallel Commentaries ... Hebrew He has madeעָשָׂ֖ה (‘ā·śāh) Verb - Qal - Perfect - third person masculine singular Strong's 6213: To do, make everything הַכֹּ֥ל (hak·kōl) Article | Noun - masculine singular Strong's 3605: The whole, all, any, every beautiful יָפֶ֣ה (yā·p̄eh) Adjective - masculine singular Strong's 3303: Fair, beautiful in its time. בְעִתּ֑וֹ (ḇə·‘it·tōw) Preposition-b | Noun - common singular construct | third person masculine singular Strong's 6256: Time, now, when He has also גַּ֤ם (gam) Conjunction Strong's 1571: Assemblage, also, even, yea, though, both, and set נָתַ֣ן (nā·ṯan) Verb - Qal - Perfect - third person masculine singular Strong's 5414: To give, put, set eternity הָעֹלָם֙ (hā·‘ō·lām) Article | Noun - masculine singular Strong's 5769: Concealed, eternity, frequentatively, always in the hearts [of men], בְּלִבָּ֔ם (bə·lib·bām) Preposition-b | Noun - masculine singular construct | third person masculine plural Strong's 3820: The heart, the feelings, the will, the intellect, centre yet מִבְּלִ֞י (mib·bə·lî) Preposition-m | Adverb Strong's 1097: Failure, nothing, destruction, without, not yet, because not, as long as [they] הָאָדָ֗ם (hā·’ā·ḏām) Article | Noun - masculine singular Strong's 120: Ruddy, a human being cannot לֹא־ (lō-) Adverb - Negative particle Strong's 3808: Not, no fathom יִמְצָ֣א (yim·ṣā) Verb - Qal - Imperfect - third person masculine singular Strong's 4672: To come forth to, appear, exist, to attain, find, acquire, to occur, meet, be present the work הַֽמַּעֲשֶׂ֛ה (ham·ma·‘ă·śeh) Article | Noun - masculine singular Strong's 4639: An action, a transaction, activity, a product, property God הָאֱלֹהִ֖ים (hā·’ĕ·lō·hîm) Article | Noun - masculine plural Strong's 430: gods -- the supreme God, magistrates, a superlative has done עָשָׂ֥ה (‘ā·śāh) Verb - Qal - Perfect - third person masculine singular Strong's 6213: To do, make from beginning מֵרֹ֥אשׁ (mê·rōš) Preposition-m | Noun - masculine singular Strong's 7218: The head to וְעַד־ (wə·‘aḏ-) Conjunctive waw | Preposition Strong's 5704: As far as, even to, up to, until, while end. סֽוֹף׃ (sō·wp̄) Noun - masculine singular Strong's 5490: A termination Links Ecclesiastes 3:11 NIVEcclesiastes 3:11 NLT Ecclesiastes 3:11 ESV Ecclesiastes 3:11 NASB Ecclesiastes 3:11 KJV Ecclesiastes 3:11 BibleApps.com Ecclesiastes 3:11 Biblia Paralela Ecclesiastes 3:11 Chinese Bible Ecclesiastes 3:11 French Bible Ecclesiastes 3:11 Catholic Bible OT Poetry: Ecclesiastes 3:11 He has made everything beautiful in its (Ecclesiast. 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