Qoheleth continues his discussion of how hard it is to find answers to the questions he asked.

In the Hebrew the sentence begins with the adjective for far off, repeated from the previous verse and cementing the relationship between them. The adjective modifies the following phrase, That which is. This phrase was used earlier by Qoheleth in 1.9; 3.15; and 6.10; see comments there. In this context the word translated which does not ask a question as it usually does, but points to the all-inclusive “anything,” “whatever”; so the phrase can be rendered as “whatever has come into existence” or “everything that exists.” Such an all-inclusive phrase appears to be difficult to reconcile with the more narrow focus of the context. However, a little reflection will reveal that Qoheleth’s point is an important and valid one. Other examples of the phrase That which is indicate that it can refer to anything God does or makes, as well as to every human situation. In this setting Qoheleth reminds readers that everything about the world and human life falls into this category; everything is beyond the human mind to grasp, comprehend fully, and explain. Good News Translation expresses this as “hard to understand”; Jerusalem Bible and New English Bible “lies beyond our grasp” is a little closer to the Hebrew image.

Following on from verse 23, this statement explains why Qoheleth cannot find answers to his earlier questions. Thus New American Bible “far-reaching” seems to have missed the point of the idiom. Qoheleth could not find answers because in the nature of things the meaning of everything in this world is mysterious and hard to explain.

Complementing the adjective far off is the adjective ʿamoq deep. The repetition of the adjective ʿamoq ʿamoq has a superlative sense, “the deepest deep.” It also has a stylistic, or literary, function, providing assonance or similar sounding words, as rachoq (“far”) and ʿamoq sound alike. Thus deep, very deep reinforces the fact that the things of the world cannot be penetrated by the limited human mind. See this same idea in Pro 18.4; 20.5; Psa 64.6. “The deepest deep” may have to be expressed in another way. In English, for example, we can modify “deep” by adverbs: “so deep,” “so very deep,” or retain the Revised Standard Version model. Again, idiomatic expressions or ideophones may be of use here: “beyond my grasp,” “beyond me,” etc. Contemporary English Version combines the two adjectives: “It’s far too deep.”

Who can find it out?: here the rhetorical question is the equivalent of a negative statement, “nobody can find it out.” Find … out is to discover by means of observing and reflecting. It is a key verb not only in the subsection to follow, but also in much of the remainder of the book. The intention of this question and that in 6.12 are not very different.

The pronominal suffix it on the Hebrew verb “find out” may refer back to “it” in the previous verse; but it seems more likely that it refers back to the subject of the verb “is,” “exists” in the previous clause. Thus it relates to the Hebrew for “which,” a term we translated as “anything,” “everything.” We can give a translation in question form, such as “Who can understand [find out] all these things?” or as a statement, “Nobody can possibly comprehend everything.” Good News Translation has expressed it as “what life means,” which narrows down this interpretation slightly.

Good News Translation has also reversed the order of the statement and the question, which seems quite effective in English. The translator is free to do the same thing, but only if the meaning is completely preserved.

Some possible translation models are:

• Everything that exists is beyond our understanding, and very profound. Who can possibly understand everything?

• Whatever exists is beyond our power to understand, and very profound. Nobody can possibly comprehend everything.

• Everything is beyond us [or, our reach], far, far away. Can anyone comprehend it?

• Everything is so difficult to understand, and there isn’t anyone who can comprehend all there is.

Quoted with permission from Ogden, Graham S. and Zogbo, Lynell. A Handbook on the Book of Ecclesiates. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1997. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .