Bible Strands
Ecclesiastes 6:10
Whatever exists was named long ago, and it is known what man is; but he cannot contend with one stronger than he.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The Preacher addresses his audience in Ecclesiastes 6 while cataloging the futility of wandering desire and the lack of profit in verbose speech. He speaks as a wisdom compiler documenting the fixed boundaries of mortal existence.
The words — The Hebrew term נִקְרָא (nik.Ra') means "it has been named," paired with כְּבָר (ke.Var) "already," emphasizing that reality and human nature were fixed long ago.
The thread — This theme of human limitation before a higher power echoes in Job 9:32 and Job 40:2, where the faultfinder cannot contend with the Almighty, and in Isaiah 45:9, which warns against quarreling with the Maker.
Why it lands — The text states that whatever exists was named long ago and humans cannot contend with one stronger than themselves. It asks the reader to abandon futile contention and accept the limits of mortal understanding.
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
That which hath been is named already, and it is known that it is man: neither may he contend with him that is mightier than he.
Cross-references
- 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 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 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 of you; through toil you will eat of it all the days of your life.
- Job 33:13 Why do you complain to Him that He answers nothing a man asks?
- Ecclesiastes 3:15 What exists has already been, and what will be has already been, for God will call to account what has passed.
- Jeremiah 49:19 Behold, one will come up like a lion from the thickets of the Jordan to the watered pasture. For in an instant I will chase Edom from her land. Who is the chosen one I will appoint for this? For who is like Me, and who can challenge Me? What shepherd can stand against Me?”
- Romans 9:19 One of you will say to me, “Then why does God still find fault? For who can resist His will?”
- Job 9:3 If one wished to contend with God, he could not answer Him one time out of a thousand.
- Job 14:1 “Man, who is born of woman, is short of days and full of trouble.