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Selected Verse: Ecclesiates 3:14 - King James
| Verse |
Translation |
Text |
| Ec 3:14 |
King James |
I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever: nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it: and God doeth it, that men should fear before him. |
Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse
| A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882] |
(Sa1 3:12; Sa2 23:5; Psa 89:34; Mat 24:35; Jam 1:17).
for ever--as opposed to man's perishing labors (Ecc 2:15-18).
any thing taken from it--opposed to man's "crooked and wanting" works (Ecc 1:15; Ecc 7:13). The event of man's labors depends wholly on God's immutable purpose. Man's part, therefore, is to do and enjoy every earthly thing in its proper season (Ecc 3:12-13), not setting aside God's order, but observing deep reverence towards God; for the mysteriousness and unchangeableness of God's purposes are designed to lead "man to fear before Him." Man knows not the event of each act: otherwise he would think himself independent of God. |
| Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834] |
| The last clause of this verse goes beyond a declaration of the fact of God's government of the world Ecc 2:26 by adding the moral effect which that fact is calculated to produce on those who see it. It is the first indication of the practical conclusion Ecc 12:13 of the book. |
| The Scofield Bible Commentary, by Cyrus Ingerson Scofield, [1917] |
fear
(See Scofield) - (Psa 19:9). |
| Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78] |
| "Thus I discerned it then, that all that God will do exists for ever; nothing is to be added to it, and nothing taken from it: God has thus directed it, that men should fear before Him." This is a conclusion derived from the facts of experience, a truth that is valid for the present and for the time to come. We may with equal correctness render by quidquid facit and quidquid faciet. But the pred. shows that the fut. expression is also thought of as fut.; for הוּ יה לע does not mean: that is for ever (Hitz.), which would be expressed by the subst. clause הוּא לעולם; but: that shall be for ever (Zck.), i.e., will always assert its validity. That which is affirmed here is true of God's directing and guiding events in the natural world, as well as of the announcements of His will and His controlling and directing providence in the history of human affairs. All this is removed beyond the power of the creature to alter it. The meaning is not that one ought not to add to or to take from it (Deu 13:1; Pro 30:6), but that such a thing cannot be done (vid., Sir. 18:5). And this unchangeableness characterizing the arrangements of God has this as its aim, that men should fear Him who is the All-conditioning and is Himself unconditioned: he has done it that they (men) should fear before Him, אשׂה שׁ, fecit ut; cf. Eze 36:27. ποιεῖν ἳνα, Rev 13:15; and "fear before Him," as at Ecc 8:12.; cf. Ch1 16:30 with Psa 96:9. The unchangeableness of God's action shows itself in this, that in the course of history similar phenomena repeat themselves; for the fundamental principles, the causal connections, the norms of God's government, remain always the same. |
| Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65] |
| For ever - All God's counsels or decrees are eternal and unchangeable. Nothing - Men can neither do any thing against God's counsel and providence, nor hinder any work or act of it. Fear - That by the consideration of his power in the disposal of all persons and things, men should learn to trust in him, to submit to him, to fear to offend him, and more carefully study to please him. |
| Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826 |
I know that whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever - לעולם leolam, for eternity; in reference to that grand consummation of men and things intimated in Ecc 3:11. God has produced no being that he intends ultimately to destroy. He made every thing in reference to eternity; and, however matter may be changed and refined, animal and intellectual beings shall not be deprived of their existence. The brute creation shall be restored, and all human spirits shall live for ever; the pure in a state of supreme and endless blessedness, the impure in a state of indestructible misery.
Nothing can be put to it - No new order of beings, whether animate or inanimate, can be produced. God will not create more; man cannot add.
Nor any thing taken from it - Nothing can be annihilated; no power but that which can create can destroy. And whatever he has done, he intended to be a means of impressing a just sense of his being, providence, mercy, and judgments, upon the souls of men. A proper consideration of God's works has a tendency to make man a religious creature; that is, to impress his mind with a sense of the existence of the Supreme Being, and the reverence that is due to him. In this sense the fear of God is frequently taken in Scripture. The Hebrew of this clause is strongly emphatic: והאלהים עשה שייראו מלפניו vehaelohim asah sheiyireu millephanaiv;
"And the gods he hath done, that they might fear from before his faces." Even the doctrine of the eternal Trinity in Unity may be collected from numberless appearances in nature. A consideration of the herb trefoil is said to have been the means of fully convincing the learned Erasmus of the truth of the assertion, These Three are One: and yet three distinct. He saw the same root, the same fibres, the same pulpy substance, the same membraneous covering, the same color, the same taste, the same smell, in every part; and yet the three leaves distinct: but each and all a continuation of the stem, and proceeding from the same root. Such a fact as this may at least illustrate the doctrine. An intelligent shepherd, whom he met upon the mountains, is said to have exhibited the herb, and the illustration while discoursing on certain difficulties in the Christian faith. When a child, I heard a learned man relate this fact. |
12 I know that there is no good in them, but for a man to rejoice, and to do good in his life.
13 And also that every man should eat and drink, and enjoy the good of all his labour, it is the gift of God.
13 Consider the work of God: for who can make that straight, which he hath made crooked?
15 That which is crooked cannot be made straight: and that which is wanting cannot be numbered.
15 Then said I in my heart, As it happeneth to the fool, so it happeneth even to me; and why was I then more wise? Then I said in my heart, that this also is vanity.
16 For there is no remembrance of the wise more than of the fool for ever; seeing that which now is in the days to come shall all be forgotten. And how dieth the wise man? as the fool.
17 Therefore I hated life; because the work that is wrought under the sun is grievous unto me: for all is vanity and vexation of spirit.
18 Yea, I hated all my labour which I had taken under the sun: because I should leave it unto the man that shall be after me.
17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.
35 Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.
34 My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips.
5 Although my house be not so with God; yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure: for this is all my salvation, and all my desire, although he make it not to grow.
12 In that day I will perform against Eli all things which I have spoken concerning his house: when I begin, I will also make an end.
13 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.
26 For God giveth to a man that is good in his sight wisdom, and knowledge, and joy: but to the sinner he giveth travail, to gather and to heap up, that he may give to him that is good before God. This also is vanity and vexation of spirit.
9 The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether.
9 O worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness: fear before him, all the earth.
30 Fear before him, all the earth: the world also shall be stable, that it be not moved.
12 Though a sinner do evil an hundred times, and his days be prolonged, yet surely I know that it shall be well with them that fear God, which fear before him:
15 And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.
27 And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.
6 Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar.
1 If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder,
11 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.