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Wesley's Explanatory Notes

Ecclesiastes 3:14

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.

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See also Ecclesiastes 3:14 in other biblical comments:

  • Adam Clarke Bible Commentary

    Verse 14. _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 Ecclesiastes 3:11. God has p...

  • Albert Barnes' Bible Commentary

    The last clause of this verse goes beyond a declaration of the fact of God’s government of the world Ecclesiastes 2:26 by adding the moral effect which that fact is calculated to produce on those who...

  • Annotated Bible by A.C. Gaebelein

    2. FURTHER RESULTS OF THE SEARCH CHAPTER 3 _ 1. The times of man under the sun (Ecclesiastes 3:1)_ 2. When then is the good? (Ecclesiastes 3:12) 3. Concerning judgment and the future ...

  • Arthur Peake's Commentary on the Bible

    From one point of view this section may be entitled _In Praise of Opportunism,_ from another _Human Helplessness._ Every action in which man can engage has its allotted season, but who can be sure tha...

  • Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes

    FOR EVER. Same word as "world "in Ecclesiastes 3:11. See note on Ecclesiastes 1:4....

  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

    _I know that, whatsoever God doeth_ We ask once again whether we are brought face to face with the thought of an iron destiny immutably fixing even the seeming accidents of life, and excluding man's v...

  • Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

    WHATSOEVER GOD DOETH— _Whatsoever God shall do, the same shall be for ever._ Desvoeux....

  • College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

    2. Working outside the framework of God's providence results in frustration and defeat. Ecclesiastes 3:9-22 TEXT 3:9-22 9 What profit is there to the worker from that in which he toils? 10 I have...

  • Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

    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. I KNOW - concerning God's part: a...

  • Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible

    THE PRACTICAL IDEAL. ACCEPTANCE OF THE UNIVERSAL SCHEME 1-15. God is a God of order. The problem which the writer has set himself is not yet solved. He has found that wisdom, culture, pleasure, are al...

  • Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible

    THAT _men_ SHOULD FEAR] God's unchanging ordinances are for the purpose of calling forth man's reverence. WE must trust Him with our future....

  • EasyEnglish Bible Commentaries

    THE TEACHER SEARCHES FOR THE PURPOSE OF OUR LIVES BOOK OF ECCLESIASTES _HILDA BRIGHT AND KITTY PRIDE_ CHAPTER 3 A POEM ABOUT TIME – ECCLESIASTES 3:1-8...

  • Ellicott's Commentary On The Whole Bible

    Sir. 11:17; Sir. 18:6....

  • ETCBC data on Hebrew bible

    יָדַ֗עְתִּי כִּ֠י כָּל ־אֲשֶׁ֨ר יַעֲשֶׂ֤ה הָ...

  • Expositor's Bible Commentary (Nicoll)

    THE QUEST OBSTRUCTED BY DIVINE ORDINANCES. Ecclesiastes 3:1 The time of birth, for instance, and the time of death, are ordained by a Power over which men have no control; they begin to be, and they...

  • Expositor's Bible Commentary (Nicoll)

    SECOND SECTION The Quest Of The Chief Good In Devotion To The Affairs Of Business Ecclesiastes 3:1 - Ecclesiastes 5:20 I. IF the true Good is not to be found in the School where Wisdom utters her vo...

  • G. Campbell Morgan's Exposition on the Whole Bible

    The vanity of life under the sun is evidenced not merely in the experience of the preacher himself, but in the wider outlook which he has been able to take. He now gives us some of the results of that...

  • Geneva Study Bible Commentary

    I know that, whatever God doeth, it shall be for (e) ever: nothing can be added to it, nor any thing taken from it: and God doeth [it], that [men] should fear before him. (e) That is, man will never...

  • George Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary

    _Feared. The order of the seasons, &c., teaches men to adore Providence. (St. Jerome) --- He has arranged every thing, how mutable soever. (St. Augustine, Confessions i. 6.)_...

  • Hawker's Poor man's commentary

    What profit hath he that worketh in that wherein he laboureth? (10) I have seen the travail, which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised in it. (11) He hath made everything beautiful in hi...

  • John Darby's Synopsis

    THE FOLLOWING COMMENTARY COVERS CHAPTER S 1 THROUGH 12. The Book of Ecclesiastes is, up to a certain point, the converse of the Book of Proverbs. (see NOTE TO PROVERBS below) It is the experience of a...

  • John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

    I KNOW THAT WHATSOEVER GOD DOETH, IT SHALL BE FOR EVER,.... Which some, as Jarchi, understand of the works of creation, the heavens and the earth, which are however of long standing and duration; and...

  • John Trapp Complete Commentary

    _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._ Ver. 14. _I know that whatsoev...

  • Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

    _Whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever_ All God's counsels or decrees are eternal and unchangeable. _Nothing can be put to it_ Men can neither do any thing against God's counsel and providence, n...

  • Kretzmann's Popular Commentary of the Bible

    THE NATURE OF HUMAN HAPPINESS...

  • Kretzmann's Popular Commentary of the Bible

    I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be forever, for His works are established and upheld by His almighty power; NOTHING CAN BE PUT TO IT, by the weak attempts of frail human beings, NOR ANYTHI...

  • Mark Dunagan Commentaries

    "I KNOW THAT EVERYTHING GOD DOES WILL REMAIN FOREVER; THERE IS NOTHING TO ADD TO IT AND THERE IS NOTHING TO TAKE FROM IT, FOR GOD HAS SO WORKED THAT MEN SHOULD FEAR HIM."WILL REMAIN FOREVER" -in contr...

  • Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible

    11-15 Every thing is as God made it; not as it appears to us. We have the world so much in our hearts, are so taken up with thoughts and cares of worldly things, that we have neither time nor spirit...

  • Matthew Poole's Concise Commentary On The Bible

    WHATSOEVER GOD DOETH, IT SHALL BE FOR EVER; all God's counsels or decrees are eternal and unchangeable, and his providence works effectually, so as men cannot resist or hinder it. NOTHING CAN BE PUT T...

  • Patchworkid's Personal Study Bible Notes

    Ecclesiastes 3:14 know H3045 (H8804) God H430 does H6213 (H8799) forever H5769 Nothing H369 added H3254 ...

  • Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible

    GOD HAS GIVEN MAN A CONCEPTION OF EVERLASTINGNESS. Here he provides something extra to what God has given men to do. While man has to work so hard, nevertheless God has made everything beautiful in it...

  • Scofield's Bible Commentary

    FEAR (_ See Scofield) - (Psalms 19:9). _...

  • Sermon Bible Commentary

    Ecclesiastes 3:1 I. Not only has God made everything, but there is a beauty in this arrangement where all is fortuitous to us, but all is fixed by Him. "He hath made everything beautiful in its time,...

  • Sermon Bible Commentary

    Ecclesiastes 1:12-3 Koheleth now mentions the unusual advantages which he had possessed for enjoying life and making the best of it. His opportunities could not have been greater, he considers, had h...

  • Sermon Bible Commentary

    Ecclesiastes 3:14 It is a thought worthy of Almighty God that everything He touches partakes of His own immortality; that He cannot lay to His hand in vain; that what has once lain in His counsels mu...

  • Summarized Bible Commentary

    CONTENTS: The mutability of all human affairs and the unchangeableness and unsearchableness of the divine counsels. CHARACTERS: God, Solomon. CONCLUSION: We live in a world of changes. The events of...

  • Sutcliffe's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

    Ecclesiastes 3:1. _To every thing there is a season._ The seasons of the year are four. But the Zodiac, Job 9., divides the times into twelve signs. In a similar manner are the labours of the husbandm...

  • The Biblical Illustrator

    _I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever._ THE ETERNITY AND PERFECTION OF THE DIVINE PURPOSES AND DOINGS Most important and consolatory truth is contained in these words. In it the Pr...

  • The ESV Global Study Bible's Study Notes

    ECCLESIASTES—NOTE ON ECCLESIASTES 3:9 Fear God, the Sovereign One. The vanity of life causes the Preacher to reflect on what is permanent and lasting: the sovereign God of the universe....

  • The ESV Global Study Bible's Study Notes

    ECCLESIASTES—NOTE ON ECCLESIASTES 3:14 The short-lived “vanities” of this world reveal all the more clearly the enduring work of GOD, to which NOTHING CAN BE ADDED....

  • The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary

    CRITICAL NOTES.— ECCLESIASTES 3:12. FOR WHO KNOWETH THE SPIRIT OF MAN THAT GOETH UPWARD.] Man has no distinct and certain knowledge of his own future destiny, or of that of other forms of life. The su...

  • The Pulpit Commentaries

    EXPOSITION ECCLESIASTES 3:1 Section 4. In confirmation of the truth that man's happiness depends upon the will of God, Koheleth proceeds to show how _Providence arranges even the minutest concerns;...

  • Through The Bible C2000 Serie by Chuck Smith

    Now we get into the weary, monotony of life. This has been used poetically as something that is very beautiful. "A time to love," and it's been made very beautiful, but in the Hebrew idea, it was mono...

  • Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

    Acts 2:23; Acts 4:28; Acts 5:39; Daniel 11:2; Daniel 4:34;...

  • Wells of Living Water Commentary

    WHAT IS GOOD IN THIS LIFE Ecclesiastes 2:24; Ecclesiastes 3:1 INTRODUCTORY WORDS We come now to the second great question in the Book of Ecclesiastes. It is expressed in Chapter s 6 and 12: "Who kno...

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