Ecclesiastes 3:15
in Ecclesiastes 3What exists has already been, and what will be has already been, for God will call to account what has passed.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
That which is hath been long ago; and that which is to be hath long ago been: and God seeketh again that which is passed away.
KJV
That which hath been is now; and that which is to be hath already been; and God requireth that which is past.
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This verse in Ecclesiastes 3
Commentary
12 notes on this verseThat which hath seen is now; and that which is to be hath already been,.... That which has been from the beginning now is; that which cometh, and what shall be in the end of days, has been already, as the Targum. Jarchi interprets this of God and his attributes, which are always the same; he is the "I am that I am", Exo 3:14; the immutable and eternal Jehovah, which is, and was, and is to come, invariably the same.
This site's exposition
What exists has already been
on Ecclesiastes 3:15-17
What exists has already been, and what will be has already been, and God will call to account what has passed. The Teacher then names a grief seen under the sun: in the place of judgment there is wickedness. Verse 17 answers, God will judge the righteous and the wicked.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers3 voices
If those are "blessed who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven" and at the same time the kingdom of heaven is the totality of the ideas of the things that have been and will come into being, then it …
"What has been, already exists, and what is still to be, has already been, and God seeks him that suffers persecution." All things we perceive in the past, present or future, they themselves have been, are, and will be. That same sun which now rises, existed before we were in this world, and after we die, it will rise again. But we have mentioned the sun, so that we understand other things to be the same as they have been before.
"Our Father." No one should be astonished that one not yet born calls God Father. With God, beings who will be born are already born; with God future beings have been made. "The things that shall be," Scripture says, "have already been." [Thus] it is …
The Medieval Church1 voice
A commentator
BonaventureCommentary on Ecclesiastes, Chapter 3 · Written in the 13th century.
proposed
And he shows this, because not even God himself diminishes or adds: whence he says: What has been made, that itself remains. Neither does he add: whence he infers: The things that shall be have already been, because similar things have preceded: whence he also …
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
Which is here added to prove the principal proposition, That all things below are vain, and happiness is not to be found in them, because of their great uncertainty, and mutability, and transitoriness, and because they are so much out of the reach and power of men, and wholly in the disposal of God.
5 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
Hath been - Things past, present, and to come, are all ordered by one constant counsel, in all parts and ages of the world. There is a continual return of the same motions of the heavenly bodies, of the same seasons of the year, and a constant succession of new generations of men and beasts, but all of the same quality.
God will call us to account for that which is past; and therefore, when we enter into a new condition, we should judge ourselves for our sins in our former condition, prosperous or afflicted. Immutability of God's Counsel; 16 And moreover I saw under the sun the place of judgment, that wickedness was there; and the place of righteousness, that iniquity was there.
The vanity of worldly honour and power, which are abused for the support of oppression and persecution if men be not governed by the fear of God in the use of them,
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Rather, What has been - what was before, and what shall be has been before. The word “is” in our the King James Version is erroneously printed in Roman letters: it does not exist in the Hebrew (it should have been italicized); and the word there translated “now” is the same which is translated as “already.” Requireth - i. e., requireth for judgment, as the word specially means in 2Sa 4:11; Eze 3:18...It is obvious from the context of the last clause of Ecc 3:14, and Ecc 3:16-17, that this is the meaning here.
That which hath been is now - God governs the world now, as he has governed it from the beginning; and the revolutions and operations of nature are the same now, that they have been from the beginning. What we see now, is the same as has been seen by those before us. And God requireth that which is past - i.e., That it may return again in its proper order. The heavens themselves, taking in their great revolutions, show the same phenomena. Even comets are supposed to have their revolutions, though some of them are hundreds of years in going round their orbits. But in the economy of grace, does not God require that which is past? Whatever blessing or influence God gives to the soul of man, he intends shall remain and increase; and it will, if man be faithful. Reader, canst thou produce all the secret inspirations of his Spirit, all the drawings of his love, his pardoning mercy, his sanctifying grace, the heavenly-mindedness produced in thee, thy holy zeal, thy spirit of prayer, thy tender conscience, the witness of the Spirit, which thou didst once receive and enjoy? Where are they? God requireth that which is past.
The words behind it
12 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| מַה־ | mah- | whatever | H4100 → | 752 times |
| שֶּֽׁהָיָה֙ | shehayah | that <it> is | H1961 → | 3559 times |
| כְּבָ֣ר | kevar | [has been] already | H3528 → | 9 times |
| ה֔וּא | hu' | it | H1931 → | 1879 times |
| וַאֲשֶׁ֥ר | vaasher | and [that] which | H834 → | 5497 times |
| לִהְי֖וֹת | lihyot | [is] to be | H1961 → | 3559 times |
| כְּבָ֣ר | kevar | already | H3528 → | 9 times |
| הָיָ֑ה | hayah | it has been | H1961 → | 3559 times |
| וְהָאֱלֹהִ֖ים | vehaelohim | and <the> God | H430 → | 2601 times |
| יְבַקֵּ֥שׁ | yevakesh | he will seek | H1245 → | 225 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| נִרְדָּֽף׃ | nirdaf | [what] was pursued | H7291 → |
מַה־whatever
mah-H4100 →752 times
שֶּֽׁהָיָה֙that <it> is
shehayahH1961 →3559 times
כְּבָ֣ר[has been] already
kevarH3528 →9 times
ה֔וּאit
hu'H1931 →1879 times
וַאֲשֶׁ֥רand [that] which
vaasherH834 →5497 times
לִהְי֖וֹת[is] to be
lihyotH1961 →3559 times
כְּבָ֣רalready
kevarH3528 →9 times
הָיָ֑הit has been
hayahH1961 →3559 times
וְהָאֱלֹהִ֖יםand <the> God
vehaelohimH430 →2601 times
יְבַקֵּ֥שׁhe will seek
yevakeshH1245 →225 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
נִרְדָּֽף׃[what] was pursued
nirdafH7291 →
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
5 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Ecclesiastes 6:10Whatever exists was named long ago, and what happens to a man is foreknown; but he cannot contend with one stronger than he.
it leads to
- Job 9:32
For He is not a man like me, that I can answer Him, that we can take each other to court.
- Isaiah 45:9–10
Woe to him who quarrels with his Maker—one clay pot among many. Does the clay ask the potter, ‘What are you making?’ Does your work say, ‘He has no hands’?
- Job 40:2
“Will the faultfinder contend with the Almighty? Let him who argues with God give an answer.”
- Genesis 3:17–19
And to Adam He said: “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat, cursed is the ground because…
- Job 33:13
Why do you complain to Him that He answers nothing a man asks?
- Job 9:32
Where this verse is studied
About Ecclesiastes
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Bonaventure, Commentary on Ecclesiastes, Chapter 3; Evagrius Ponticus, SCHOLIA ON ECCLESIASTES 19:3.15; Jerome, Commentary on Ecclesiastes; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Peter Chrysologus, SERMON 70.