13 See the work of God, For who is able to make straight that which He made crooked?
A crooked thing `one' is not able to make straight, and a lacking thing is not able to be numbered.
For Jehovah of Hosts hath purposed, And who doth make void? And His hand that is stretched out, Who doth turn it back?'
Thou wilt say, then, to me, `Why yet doth He find fault? for His counsel who hath resisted?'
Declaring from the beginning the latter end, And from of old that which hath not been done, Saying, `My counsel doth stand, And all My delight I do.' Calling from the east a ravenous bird, From a far land the man of My counsel, Yea, I have spoken, yea, I bring it in, I have formed `it', yea, I do it.
in whom also we did obtain an inheritance, being foreordained according to the purpose of Him who the all things is working according to the counsel of His will,
for to Moses He saith, `I will do kindness to whom I do kindness, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion;'
Lo, He snatches away, who bringeth it back? Who saith unto Him, `What dost Thou?'
And harp, and psaltery, tabret, and pipe, And wine, have been their banquets, And the work of Jehovah they behold not, Yea, the work of His hands they have not seen.
Who `is' wise, and observeth these? They understand the kind acts of Jehovah!
For I see Thy heavens, a work of Thy fingers, Moon and stars that Thou didst establish.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Ecclesiastes 7
Commentary on Ecclesiastes 7 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 7
Solomon had given many proofs and instances of the vanity of this world and the things of it; now, in this chapter,
Ecc 7:1-6
In these verses Solomon lays down some great truths which seem paradoxes to the unthinking part, that is, the far greatest part, of mankind.
Ecc 7:7-10
Solomon had often complained before of the oppressions which he saw under the sun, which gave occasion for many melancholy speculations and were a great discouragement to virtue and piety. Now here,
Ecc 7:11-22
Solomon, in these verses, recommends wisdom to us as the best antidote against those distempers of mind which we are liable to, by reason of the vanity and vexation of spirit that there are in the things of this world. Here are some of the praises and the precepts of wisdom.
Ecc 7:23-29
Solomon had hitherto been proving the vanity of the world and its utter insufficiency to make men happy; now here he comes to show the vileness of sin, and its certain tendency to make men miserable; and this, as the former, he proves from his own experience, and it was a dear-bought experience. He is here, more than any where in all this book, putting on the habit of a penitent. He reviews what he had been discoursing of already, and tells us that what he had said was what he knew and was well assured of, and what he resolved to stand by: All this have I proved by wisdom, v. 23. Now here,