Ecclesiastes 3:11
(KJB) 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.
(1611 KJB)
He hath made euery thing beautifull
in his time: also hee hath set the
world in their heart, so that no man can finde out the worke that God
maketh from the beginning to the end.
(1587 Geneva Bible) He hath made euery thing beautifull in his time:
also he hath set the worlde
in their heart, yet can not man finde out the worke that God hath wrought fro
the beginning euen to the end.
(1560 Geneva Bible) He hath made euery thing beautifull in his time:
also he hath set the worlde
in their heart, yet can not man finde out the worke that God hath wrought from
the beginning euen to the end.
(1833 Webster Bible) 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.
Counterfeit
Versions
(1901 ASV) 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.
(AMP) 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.
(CSB) 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.
(CEB) God has made everything fitting in its time, but
has also placed eternity in their hearts, without enabling them to discover what
God has done from beginning to end.
(ESV) 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.
(HCSB) 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.
(ISV) 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.
(LB) Everything is appropriate in its own time. But
though God has planted eternity in the hearts of men, even so, many cannot see
the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end.
(NABRE) 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.
(NASV) 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.
(NIV) 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.
(NKJV) 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.
(NLV) He has made everything beautiful in its time. He
has put thoughts of the forever in man’s mind, yet man cannot understand the
work God has done from the beginning to the end.
(NLT) 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.
(NWT) He
has made everything beautiful in its time. He has even put eternity in
their heart; yet mankind will never find out the work that the true God has made
from start to finish.
(RSV)
He has made everything beautiful in its time; also he has put eternity
into man’s mind, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the
beginning to the end.
(TLV) He has made everything beautiful in its time.
Moreover, He has set eternity in their heart—yet without the possibility that
humankind can ever discover the work that God has done from the beginning to the
end.
(VOICE) and I know God has made everything
beautiful for its time. God has also placed in our minds a sense of eternity; we
look back on the past and ponder over the future, yet we cannot understand the
doings of God.
(WEB) 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.
Affected
Teaching
The word behind “world” in this verse is “ôlãm” which
carries with it the meaning of “forever, everlasting, or eternity.”
This is how it is translated in the majority of the Hebrew Scriptures.
Ezekiel 37:26 (KJV)
Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an
everlasting covenant with
them: and I will place them, and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in the
midst of them for evermore.
2 Samuel 22:51 (KJV)
He is the tower of salvation for his king: and sheweth mercy to his
anointed, unto David, and to his seed for
evermore.
However, the word “ôlãm” has a wider meaning than just
eternity. It can also be translated
“old, ancient, old time, never.”
Deuteronomy 32:7 (KJV)
Remember the days of old,
consider the years of many generations: ask thy father, and he will shew thee;
thy elders, and they will tell thee.
Job 22:15 (KJV)
Hast thou marked the old
way which wicked men have trodden?
Isaiah 44:7 (KJV)
And who, as I, shall call, and shall declare it, and set it in order for
me, since I appointed the ancient
people? and the things that are coming, and shall come, let them shew unto them.
Proverbs 22:28 (KJV)
Remove not the ancient
landmark, which thy fathers have set.
Ezekiel 26:20 (KJV)
When I shall bring thee down with them that descend into the pit, with
the people of old time, and
shall set thee in the low parts of the earth, in places desolate of old, with
them that go down to the pit, that thou be not inhabited; and I shall set glory
in the land of the living;
Joel 2:26-27 (KJV)
And ye shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise the name of the
LORD your God, that hath dealt wondrously with you: and my people shall
never be ashamed.
{27} And ye shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am
the LORD your God, and none else: and my people shall
never be ashamed.
Sometime in the centuries preceding the King James
Translation, the word “ôlãm” began to be translated as world.
When that happened I do not know any specific dates for that, as language
tended to progress and during the 16th century, the English language
underwent many changes.
The Geneva Bible of 1560 uses the word “world” for
“ôlãm.”
(1560
Geneva Bible) He hath made euery thing beautifull in his time: also he hath set
the worlde in their heart, yet can not man finde out the worke that God
hath wrought from the beginning euen to the end.
Now we go back to Ecclesiastes 3:11 and see why the King
James Translators chose “world” instead of “eternity.”
Ecclesiastes 3:11 (KJV)
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.
As we have seen that “ôlãm” does not always mean
eternity even though that is the primary meaning of the word.
We safely conclude that “ôlãm” is a word that is defined by the context.
If we look at Ecclesiastes chapter 3, we read that it is speaking about
this world and not about eternity.
Verses 1-8 speak about a time for everything under Heaven.
Verse 9 speaks about the labor of man and its profit.
Verse 10 speaks about the travail of man which was given by God.
Travail carries with it the synonyms of “struggle, exertion, or effort.”
Then we come to verse 11 which speaks about God setting the world in the
heart of man but man is lacking the ability to understand the works of God.
Man has always been fascinated by God’s creation and has an innate desire
to search it out and understand it.
Remember the 64 questions God asked Job at the end of the book?
Job was unable to answer any of them.
Then we come to Ecclesiastes 11:5.
Ecclesiastes 11:5 (KJV) As thou knowest not what is the
way of the spirit, nor how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with
child: even so thou knowest not the works of God who maketh all.
This gives us the key to understanding Ecclesiastes 3:11
and why they chose “world” simply because Ecclesiastes is about the futility of
this life without God. The works in
view in both Ecclesiastes 3:11 and 11:5 are speaking about the works of this
world and that is why plugging in the word “eternity” without factoring in
context makes the verse a completely confusing verse making no sense.
When was the last time you heard an unbeliever speak about eternal things
versus speaking about the things of the world?
The unbeliever is tied to this world and Ecclesiastes 3 is making no
differentiation between saved or unsaved and is speaking to the human race in
general. Even believers are tied to
this world simply by means of being human but believers also look to the future
and see the eternal horizon where the natural, unsaved person does not.
The context of Ecclesiastes 3:11 demands that the word “world” be there simply because it harmonizes with the rest of the chapter.