Ecclesiastes 7:13
in Ecclesiastes 7Consider the work of God: Who can straighten what He has bent?
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Consider the work of God: for who can make that straight, which he hath made crooked?
KJV
Consider the work of God: for who can make that straight, which he hath made crooked?
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This verse in Ecclesiastes 7
Commentary
10 notes on this verseEven among the Greeks there were many opponents to those who claimed that the cosmos came into being by itself.… Since providence of necessity is concerned with the details and God is providence, his providence concerns the cosmos that he himself has created. Now admit …
This site's exposition
Consider the work of God
on Ecclesiastes 7:13-14
The counsel Consider the work of God turns on a question, Who can straighten what He has bent. In the day of prosperity, be joyful, and in adversity consider that God has made one of these along with the other. The bent and the straight come from God's hand.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
God does not make crooked by causing destruction but by showing that someone is crooked.… It is written, "Those who turn to crooked ways, the Lord will lead away together with those who have committed injustice." It is not God himself who leads them away …
The Medieval Church1 voice
A commentator
BonaventureCommentary on Ecclesiastes, Chapter 7 · Written in the 13th century.
proposed
This is the second instruction, in which he teaches the discreet consideration of the divine works or judgments, because him whom He despises by the sign of reprobation, no one can bring back. Therefore he says: "Consider the works of God," that is, the divine …
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
Consider - His wise, and just, and powerful government of all events, which is proposed as the last and best remedy against all murmurings. For who - No man can correct or alter any of God's works; and therefore all frettings at the injuries of men, or calamities of times, are not only sinful, but also vain and fruitless.
): Consider the work of God. To silence our complaints concerning cross events, let us consider the hand of God in them and not open our mouths against that which is his doing; let us look upon the disposal of our condition and all the circumstances of it as the work of God, and consider it as the product of his eternal counsel, which is fulfilled in every thing that befals us.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
Consider the work of God,....
3 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
The work of God - The scheme of Divine Providence, the course of events which God orders and controls (compare Ecc 3:11). It comprises both events which are “straight,” i. e., in accordance with our expectation, and events which are “crooked,” i. e., which by their seeming inequality baffle our comprehension.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
Consider as to God's work, that it is impossible to alter His dispensations; for who can, &c. straight . . . crooked--Man cannot amend what God wills to be "wanting" and "adverse" (Ec 1:15;
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
Consider the work of God - Such is the nature of his providence, that it puts money into the hands of few: but wisdom is within the reach of all. The first is not necessary to happiness; therefore, it is not offered to men; the latter is; and therefore God, in his goodness, offers it to the whole human race. The former can rarely be acquired, for God puts it out of the reach of most men, and you cannot make that straight which he has made crooked; the latter may be easily attained by every person who carefully and seriously seeks it from God.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
Consider the deeds of God. How everything is prepared according to man’s actions, the Garden of Eden for the righteous and Gehinnom for the wicked. Consider to which you should cling.
2 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
For wisdom shelters [as well] as money shelters. Whoever is in the shade of wisdom is in the shade of money, for wisdom causes eventual wealth.
On a day of goodness [prosperity], be in good spirits. On a day in which you have the ability to do good, 35 Alternatively, on a day of good fortune be happy and enjoy it. (Metsudas Dovid) be among those who do good.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 1 further source is cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
11 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| רְאֵ֖ה | reeh | consider | H7200 → | 1300 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| מַעֲשֵׂ֣ה | maaseh | [the] work of | H4639 → | 236 times |
| הָאֱלֹהִ֑ים | haelohim | <the> God | H430 → | 2601 times |
| כִּ֣י | ki | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| מִ֤י | mi | who? | H4310 → | 423 times |
| יוּכַל֙ | yukhal | is he able | H3201 → | 194 times |
| לְתַקֵּ֔ן | letaken | to straighten | H8626 → | 3 times |
| אֵ֖ת | ʾet | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| אֲשֶׁ֥ר | ʾasher | [that] which | H834 → | 5497 times |
| עִוְּתֽוֹ׃ | iveto | he has bent it | H5791 → | 11 times |
רְאֵ֖הconsider
reehH7200 →1300 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
מַעֲשֵׂ֣ה[the] work of
maasehH4639 →236 times
הָאֱלֹהִ֑ים<the> God
haelohimH430 →2601 times
כִּ֣יfor
kiH3588 →4482 times
מִ֤יwho?
miH4310 →423 times
יוּכַל֙is he able
yukhalH3201 →194 times
לְתַקֵּ֔ןto straighten
letakenH8626 →3 times
אֵ֖ת<obj.>
ʾetH853 →10935 times
אֲשֶׁ֥ר[that] which
ʾasherH834 →5497 times
עִוְּתֽוֹ׃he has bent it
ivetoH5791 →11 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 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 3:11He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men, yet they cannot fathom the work that God has done from beginning to end.
it leads to
- Romans 1:19–20
For what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them.
- Romans 11:33
O, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments, and untraceable His ways!
- Job 11:7
Can you fathom the deep things of God or discover the limits of the Almighty?
- Ecclesiastes 8:17
I saw every work of God, and that a man is unable to comprehend the work that is done under the sun. Despite his efforts to search it out, he cannot find its meaning;…
- Job 5:9
the One who does great and unsearchable things, wonders without number.
- Romans 1:19–20
Through
Ecclesiastes 1:15What is crooked cannot be straightened, and what is lacking cannot be counted.
it leads to
- Ecclesiastes 7:12–13
For wisdom, like money, is a shelter, and the advantage of knowledge is that wisdom preserves the life of its owner.
- Ecclesiastes 7:12–13
Through
Job 12:14What He tears down cannot be rebuilt; the man He imprisons cannot be released.
it leads to
- Isaiah 22:22
I will place on his shoulder the key to the house of David. What he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open.
- Revelation 3:7
To the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: These are the words of the One who is holy and true, who holds the key of David. What He opens no one can shut,…
- Isaiah 22:22
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Ecclesiastes
This page draws on 10 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 7; Charles Bridges, An Exposition of the Book of Ecclesiastes; Didymus the Blind, COMMENTARY ON ECCLESIASTES 209:26; Didymus the Blind, COMMENTARY ON ECCLESIASTES 212:12; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.