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Ecclesiastes 6 · a question people ask

Who is "him who is mightier than he" (6:10)?

In the text

The verse doesn't say. "Whatever has been, its name was given long ago; and it is known what man is; neither can he contend with him who is mightier than he" (6:10). Mightier is taqqif, a word the Hebrew Bible has only here (tap mightier). Contend is din, a verb the Hebrew Bible uses elsewhere of judging (tap contend); Brown-Driver-Briggs gives this verse's line as "he cannot contend with one mightier than he". The verse names no one, and these notes don't say who is meant.

The verses

“Whatever has been, its name was given long ago; and it is known what man is; neither can he contend with him who is mightier than he.”
Ecclesiastes 6:10 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Ecclesiastes 6

Ecclesiastes 6: The wandering of the desire

The riches of 6:2 are the riches of 5:19, in the same Hebrew words, but where God gave that man "power to eat of it" (5:19), this one has none. The soul of 6:2-3 is the appetite of 6:7 and the desire of 6:9, one Hebrew word, and the chapter ends on two questions it leaves open (6:12).

In Favor, questions like this come up right where they arise as you read, with the Hebrew and Greek behind the words and how the chapter leads to Jesus.

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions