Bible Strands
Ecclesiastes 7:10
Do not say, “Why were the old days better than these?” For it is unwise of you to ask about this.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The speaker addresses readers in Ecclesiastes 7, positioning this instruction between a warning against swift anger (Ecclesiastes 7:9) and a declaration on the benefit of wisdom (Ecclesiastes 7:11).
The words — תֹּאמַר (to.Mar) = you say and טוֹבִים (to.Vim) = good frame the prohibition against verbally elevating the past over the present.
The thread — The text records a prohibition against asking why former days were better, a questioning impulse that surfaces in Judges 6:13 and aligns with Scripture’s broader pattern of testing human complaints against divine sight (Psalms 14:2; Genesis 6:11).
Why it lands — The verse demands readers stop measuring current reality against an imagined superior past and refuse to demand explanations for present hardships.
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
Say not thou, What is the cause that the former days were better than these? for thou dost not enquire wisely concerning this.
Cross-references
- Psalms 14:2 The LORD looks down from heaven upon the sons of men to see if any understand, if any seek God.
- Genesis 6:11 Now the earth was corrupt in the sight of God, and full of violence.
- Judges 6:13 “Please, my Lord,” Gideon replied, “if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us? And where are all His wonders of which our fathers told us, saying, ‘Has not the LORD brought us up out of Egypt?’ But now the LORD has forsaken us and delivered us into the hand of Midian.”
- Isaiah 50:1 This is what the LORD says: “Where is your mother’s certificate of divorce with which I sent her away? Or to which of My creditors did I sell you? Look, you were sold for your iniquities, and for your transgressions your mother was sent away.
- Romans 1:22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools,
- Jeremiah 44:17 Instead, we will do everything we vowed to do: We will burn incense to the Queen of Heaven and offer drink offerings to her, just as we, our fathers, our kings, and our officials did in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. At that time we had plenty of food and good things, and we saw no disaster.
- Romans 3:9 What then? Are we any better? Not at all. For we have already made the charge that Jews and Greeks alike are all under sin.