Bible Strands
Ecclesiastes 11:5
As you do not know the path of the wind, or how the bones are formed in a mother’s womb, so you cannot understand the work of God, the Maker of all things.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The Preacher addresses his audience within the agricultural exhortation of Ecclesiastes 11:4–6, using observable natural processes to ground his instruction. He speaks at this moment to anchor human limitation in the mystery of creation itself.
The words — The text pairs אֵֽינְ/ךָ֤ ('ei.ne./Kha) as "not you" with יוֹדֵ֙עַ֙ (yo.De.a') as "[are] knowing" to declare "you do not know." These terms frame the subject's inability to trace the mechanism of wind or fetal formation.
The thread — The text's assertion of human inability to comprehend divine action runs directly through Ecclesiastes 8:17, which notes a man's failure to grasp God's work under the sun. It parallels John 3:8's description of the wind's unpredictable path and resonates with Psalms 92:5's emphasis on the depth of God's thoughts.
Why it lands — The text states that human investigation cannot map the work of the Maker, whether in wind or conception. It asks the reader to act without demanding full comprehension, accepting mystery as the boundary of human knowledge.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
As thou knowest not what is the way of the spirit, nor how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with child: even so thou knowest not the works of God who maketh all.
Cross-references
- John 3:8 The wind blows where it wishes. You hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”
- Psalms 92:5 How great are Your works, O LORD, how deep are Your thoughts!
- 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; even if the wise man claims to know, he is unable to comprehend.
- 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!
- Isaiah 40:28 Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary; His understanding is beyond searching out.
- Psalms 104:24 How many are Your works, O LORD! In wisdom You have made them all; the earth is full of Your creatures.
- Psalms 139:13 For You formed my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother’s womb.
- Ecclesiastes 7:24 What exists is out of reach and very deep. Who can fathom it?
- Job 26:5 The dead tremble—those beneath the waters and those who dwell in them.
- Job 36:24 Remember to magnify His work, which men have praised in song.