8:17a I saw every work of God,

Next I thought about everything that God does.
-or-
Then I studied everything God does, (FBV)

8:17b and that a man is unable to comprehend the work that is done under the sun.

⌊And I realized⌋ that no one is able to completely understand the things that happen in this world.
-or-
and I realized that no one can fully understand what happens here. (FBV)
-or-
Surely no one is able to ⌊completely⌋ understand what God does in this world.

8:17c Despite his efforts to search it out, he cannot find its meaning;

No matter how hard they try, they will never completely understand the reason ⌊why things happen the way they do⌋ .
-or-
Even if they try very much, they will not know everything. (EEB)

8:17d even if the wise man claims to know, he is unable to comprehend.

Wise people might claim they know. But they canʼt really understand it either. (New International Reader’s Version)
-or-
A wise person may say that he understands all these things. But really that is not possible. (EEB)
-or-
And even though ⌊some⌋ wise people say that they understand ⌊everything⌋ , they still are not able to completely understand ⌊what happens⌋ .

© 2006 by SIL International®
Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0.
All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
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