Ecclesiastes 8:16

When I gave my heart, to know wisdom, and to consider the business that was done upon the earth, then surely, by day and by night, there was one who suffered not his eyes, to sleep.

The Emphasised Bible by J. B. Rotherham

In The King James Version

When I applied mine heart to know wisdom, and to see the business that is done upon the earth: (for also there is that neither day nor night seeth sleep with his eyes:)

In Context

15Then extolled I, gladness, in that there was nothing better for a man, under the sun, than to eat and to drink, and to be glad,—since, that, should tarry with him in his toil, for the days of his life which God had given him under the sun.

17Then I considered all the work of God, that man could not find out the work that was done under the sun, inasmuch as man toileth in seeking and yet cannot find,—yea, even though the wise man should say he knoweth, yet can he not find it out.

Read all of Ecclesiastes 8

Cross References

Psalms 127:2Vain for you,—to be early in rising, to be late in lying down, to be eating the bread of wearisome toil, So, would he give his beloved one sleep.

Ecclesiastes 1:17yea I have given my heart, to know wisdom, and to know madness, and folly,—I know that, even this, is a feeding on wind.

Ecclesiastes 4:8Here is one, without a second, even son or brother, he hath none, yet is there no end to all his toil, even his eye, is not satisfied with riches,—neither [saith he] For whom, am I toiling, and letting my soul want good? Even this, was vanity, yea a vexatious employment, it was!

Ecclesiastes 7:25Resolved, I, in my heart, to know and search out, and to seek wisdom, and a conclusion,—and to know lawlessness [to be] stupidity, and folly to be madness.

Ecclesiastes 8:9All this, had I seen, and tried to apply my heart to every work which was done under the sun,—at such time as one man had power over another man, to his hurt.

Matthew Henry on Ecclesiastes 8:15-17

The Mysteries of Providence. 14 There is a vanity which is done upon the earth; that there be just men, unto whom it happeneth according to the work of the wicked; again, there be wicked men, to whom it happeneth according to the work of the righteous: I said that this also is vanity. 15 Then I commended mirth, because a man hath no better thing under the sun, than to eat, and to drink, and to be merry: for that shall abide with him of his labour the days of his life, which God giveth him under the sun. 16 When I… Read the whole commentary →

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