Ecclesiastes 9:10

Webster's Bible (1833)

Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in Sheol, where you are going.

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

כֹּ֠ל אֲשֶׁ֨ר תִּמְצָ֧א יָֽדְךָ֛ לַעֲשׂ֥וֹת בְּכֹחֲךָ֖ עֲשֵׂ֑ה כִּי֩ אֵ֨ין מַעֲשֶׂ֤ה וְחֶשְׁבּוֹן֙ וְדַ֣עַת וְחָכְמָ֔ה בִּשְׁא֕וֹל אֲשֶׁ֥ר אַתָּ֖ה הֹלֵ֥ךְ שָֽׁמָּה׃

Transliteration

All that timṣāʾ yādĕkā to-laʿăśôt in-kōḥăkā ʿăśēh; for not maʿăśeh and-ḥešbôn and-daʿat and-ḥokmâ in-šĕʾôl that you hōlēk there.

Grammar Details

• *timṣāʾ*: verb, qal imperfect, 2nd person masculine singular - you find
• *yādĕkā*: noun, feminine singular with 2nd person masculine singular suffix - your hand
• *laʿăśôt*: verb, qal infinitive construct with preposition - to do
• *kōḥăkā*: noun, masculine singular with 2nd person masculine singular suffix - your strength
• *ʿăśēh*: verb, qal imperative, masculine singular - do
• *maʿăśeh*: noun, masculine singular - work/deed
• *ḥešbôn*: noun, masculine singular - reckoning/account
• *daʿat*: noun, feminine singular - knowledge
• *ḥokmâ*: noun, feminine singular - wisdom
• *šĕʾôl*: noun, feminine singular - Sheol/grave
• *hōlēk*: verb, qal participle, masculine singular - going

Word Meanings

• *timṣāʾ yādĕkā*: your hand finds/you are able/you have opportunity
• *laʿăśôt*: to do/to perform/to accomplish
• *kōḥăkā*: your strength/your power/your ability
• *ʿăśēh*: do/perform/accomplish
• *maʿăśeh*: work/deed/activity/action
• *ḥešbôn*: reckoning/account/reasoning/planning
• *daʿat*: knowledge/understanding/perception
• *ḥokmâ*: wisdom/skill/intelligence
• *šĕʾôl*: Sheol/grave/realm of the dead
• *hōlēk šāmmâ*: going there/headed there

Referenced Verses

• Col 3:23 : 23 And whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord, and not for men,
• Rom 12:11 : 11 not lagging in diligence; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord;
• Eph 5:16 : 16 redeeming the time, because the days are evil.
• Ps 6:5 : 5 For in death there is no memory of you. In Sheol, who shall give you thanks?
• Ps 71:15-18 : 15 My mouth will tell about your righteousness, And of your salvation all day, Though I don't know its full measure. 16 I will come with the mighty acts of the Lord Yahweh. I will make mention of your righteousness, even of yours alone. 17 God, you have taught me from my youth. Until now, I have declared your wondrous works. 18 Yes, even when I am old and gray-haired, God, don't forsake me, Until I have declared your strength to the next generation, Your might to everyone who is to come.
• Ps 88:10-12 : 10 Do you show wonders to the dead? Do the dead rise up and praise you? Selah. 11 Is your loving kindness declared in the grave? Or your faithfulness in Destruction? 12 Are your wonders made known in the dark? Or your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?
• Eccl 9:5-6 : 5 For the living know that they will die, but the dead don't know anything, neither do they have any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten. 6 Also their love, their hatred, and their envy has perished long ago; neither have they any more a portion forever in anything that is done under the sun.
• Eccl 11:3 : 3 If the clouds are full of rain, they empty themselves on the earth; And if a tree falls toward the south, or toward the north, In the place where the tree falls, there shall it be.
• Eccl 11:6 : 6 In the morning sow your seed, And in the evening don't withhold your hand; For you don't know which will prosper, whether this or that, Or whether they both will be equally good.
• Isa 38:18-19 : 18 For Sheol can't praise you, death can't celebrate you: Those who go down into the pit can't hope for your truth. 19 The living, the living, he shall praise you, as I do this day: The father to the children shall make known your truth.
• Jer 29:13 : 13 You shall seek me, and find me, when you shall search for me with all your heart.
• Matt 6:33 : 33 But seek first God's Kingdom, and his righteousness; and all these things will be given to you as well.
• John 4:34 : 34 Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of him who sent me, and to accomplish his work.
• John 9:4 : 4 I must work the works of him who sent me, while it is day. The night is coming, when no one can work.
• Acts 20:25-31 : 25 Now, behold, I know that you all, among whom I went about preaching the Kingdom of God, will see my face no more. 26 Therefore I testify to you this day that I am clean from the blood of all men, 27 for I didn't shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God. 28 Take heed, therefore, to yourselves, and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the assembly of the Lord and{TR, NU omit "the Lord and"} God which he purchased with his own blood. 29 For I know that after my departure, vicious wolves will enter in among you, not sparing the flock. 30 Men will arise from among your own selves, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them. 31 Therefore watch, remembering that for a period of three years I didn't cease to admonish everyone night and day with tears.
• Num 13:30 : 30 Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it.
• 1 Chr 22:19 : 19 Now set your heart and your soul to seek after Yahweh your God; arise therefore, and build the sanctuary of Yahweh God, to bring the ark of the covenant of Yahweh, and the holy vessels of God, into the house that is to be built to the name of Yahweh.
• 1 Chr 28:20 : 20 David said to Solomon his son, Be strong and of good courage, and do it: don't be afraid, nor be dismayed; for Yahweh God, even my God, is with you; he will not fail you, nor forsake you, until all the work for the service of the house of Yahweh is finished.
• 1 Chr 29:2-3 : 2 Now I have prepared with all my might for the house of my God the gold for the [things of] gold, and the silver for the [things of] silver, and the brass for the [things of] brass, the iron for the [things of] iron, and wood for the [things of] wood; onyx stones, and [stones] to be set, stones for inlaid work, and of various colors, and all manner of precious stones, and marble stones in abundance. 3 In addition, because I have set my affection on the house of my God, seeing that I have a treasure of my own of gold and silver, I give it to the house of my God, over and above all that I have prepared for the holy house,
• 2 Chr 31:20-21 : 20 Thus did Hezekiah throughout all Judah; and he worked that which was good and right and faithful before Yahweh his God. 21 In every work that he began in the service of the house of God, and in the law, and in the commandments, to seek his God, he did it with all his heart, and prospered.
• Ezra 6:14-15 : 14 The elders of the Jews built and prospered, through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo. They built and finished it, according to the commandment of the God of Israel, and according to the decree of Cyrus, and Darius, and Artaxerxes king of Persia. 15 This house was finished on the third day of the month Adar, which was in the sixth year of the reign of Darius the king.
• Neh 2:12-3:16 : 12 I arose in the night, I and some few men with me; neither told I any man what my God put into my heart to do for Jerusalem; neither was there any animal with me, except the animal that I rode on. 13 I went out by night by the valley gate, even toward the jackal's well, and to the dung gate, and viewed the walls of Jerusalem, which were broken down, and the gates of it were consumed with fire. 14 Then I went on to the spring gate and to the king's pool: but there was no place for the animal that was under me to pass. 15 Then went I up in the night by the brook, and viewed the wall; and I turned back, and entered by the valley gate, and so returned. 16 The rulers didn't know where I went, or what I did; neither had I as yet told it to the Jews, nor to the priests, nor to the nobles, nor to the rulers, nor to the rest who did the work. 17 Then said I to them, You see the evil case that we are in, how Jerusalem lies waste, and the gates of it are burned with fire: come, and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem, that we be no more a reproach. 18 I told them of the hand of my God which was good on me, as also of the king's words that he had spoken to me. They said, Let us rise up and build. So they strengthened their hands for the good [work]. 19 But when Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, and Geshem the Arabian, heard it, they ridiculed us, and despised us, and said, What is this thing that you do? will you rebel against the king? 20 Then answered I them, and said to them, The God of heaven, he will prosper us; therefore we his servants will arise and build: but you have no portion, nor right, nor memorial, in Jerusalem. 1 Then Eliashib the high priest rose up with his brothers the priests, and they built the sheep gate; they sanctified it, and set up the doors of it; even to the tower of Hammeah they sanctified it, to the tower of Hananel. 2 Next to him built the men of Jericho. Next to them built Zaccur the son of Imri. 3 The fish gate did the sons of Hassenaah build; they laid the beams of it, and set up the doors of it, the bolts of it, and the bars of it. 4 Next to them repaired Meremoth the son of Uriah, the son of Hakkoz. Next to them repaired Meshullam the son of Berechiah, the son of Meshezabel. Next to them repaired Zadok the son of Baana. 5 Next to them the Tekoites repaired; but their nobles didn't put their necks to the work of their lord. 6 The old gate repaired Joiada the son of Paseah and Meshullam the son of Besodeiah; they laid the beams of it, and set up the doors of it, and the bolts of it, and the bars of it. 7 Next to them repaired Melatiah the Gibeonite, and Jadon the Meronothite, the men of Gibeon, and of Mizpah, [that appertained] to the throne of the governor beyond the River. 8 Next to him repaired Uzziel the son of Harhaiah, goldsmiths. Next to him repaired Hananiah one of the perfumers, and they fortified Jerusalem even to the broad wall. 9 Next to them repaired Rephaiah the son of Hur, the ruler of half the district of Jerusalem. 10 Next to them repaired Jedaiah the son of Harumaph, over against his house. Next to him repaired Hattush the son of Hashabneiah. 11 Malchijah the son of Harim, and Hasshub the son of Pahath-moab, repaired another portion, and the tower of the furnaces. 12 Next to him repaired Shallum the son of Hallohesh, the ruler of half the district of Jerusalem, he and his daughters. 13 The valley gate repaired Hanun, and the inhabitants of Zanoah; they built it, and set up the doors of it, the bolts of it, and the bars of it, and one thousand cubits of the wall to the dung gate. 14 The dung gate repaired Malchijah the son of Rechab, the ruler of the district of Beth Haccherem; he built it, and set up the doors of it, the bolts of it, and the bars of it. 15 The spring gate repaired Shallun the son of Colhozeh, the ruler of the district of Mizpah; he built it, and covered it, and set up the doors of it, the bolts of it, and the bars of it, and the wall of the pool of Shelah by the king's garden, even to the stairs that go down from the city of David. 16 After him repaired Nehemiah the son of Azbuk, the ruler of half the district of Beth Zur, to the place over against the tombs of David, and to the pool that was made, and to the house of the mighty men.
• Neh 4:2 : 2 He spoke before his brothers and the army of Samaria, and said, What are these feeble Jews doing? will they fortify themselves? will they sacrifice? will they make an end in a day? will they revive the stones out of the heaps of rubbish, seeing they are burned?
• Neh 4:6 : 6 So we built the wall; and all the wall was joined together to half [the height] of it: for the people had a mind to work.
• Neh 4:9-9 : 9 But we made our prayer to our God, and set a watch against them day and night, because of them. 10 Judah said, The strength of the bearers of burdens is decayed, and there is much rubbish; so that we are not able to build the wall. 11 Our adversaries said, They shall not know, neither see, until we come into the midst of them, and kill them, and cause the work to cease. 12 It happened that when the Jews who lived by them came, they said to us ten times from all places, You must return to us. 13 Therefore set I in the lowest parts of the space behind the wall, in the open places, I set [there] the people after their families with their swords, their spears, and their bows.
• Neh 4:17-23 : 17 They all built the wall and those who bore burdens loaded themselves; everyone with one of his hands worked in the work, and with the other held his weapon; 18 and the builders, everyone had his sword girded by his side, and so built. He who sounded the trumpet was by me. 19 I said to the nobles, and to the rulers and to the rest of the people, The work is great and large, and we are separated on the wall, one far from another: 20 in whatever place you hear the sound of the trumpet, resort you there to us; our God will fight for us. 21 So we worked in the work: and half of them held the spears from the rising of the morning until the stars appeared. 22 Likewise at the same time said I to the people, Let everyone with his servant lodge within Jerusalem, that in the night they may be a guard to us, and may labor in the day. 23 So neither I, nor my brothers, nor my servants, nor the men of the guard who followed me, none of us put off our clothes, everyone [went with] his weapon [to] the water.
• Neh 13:8-9 : 8 It grieved me sore: therefore I cast forth all the household stuff of Tobiah out of the chamber. 9 Then I commanded, and they cleansed the chambers: and there brought I again the vessels of the house of God, with the meal-offerings and the frankincense. 10 I perceived that the portions of the Levites had not been given them; so that the Levites and the singers, who did the work, were fled everyone to his field. 11 Then contended I with the rulers, and said, Why is the house of God forsaken? I gathered them together, and set them in their place. 12 Then brought all Judah the tithe of the grain and the new wine and the oil to the treasuries. 13 I made treasurers over the treasuries, Shelemiah the priest, and Zadok the scribe, and of the Levites, Pedaiah: and next to them was Hanan the son of Zaccur, the son of Mattaniah; for they were counted faithful, and their business was to distribute to their brothers. 14 Remember me, my God, concerning this, and don't wipe out my good deeds that I have done for the house of my God, and for the observances of it. 15 In those days saw I in Judah some men treading wine-presses on the Sabbath, and bringing in sheaves, and lading donkeys [therewith]; as also wine, grapes, and figs, and all manner of burdens, which they brought into Jerusalem on the Sabbath day: and I testified [against them] in the day in which they sold food. 16 There lived men of Tyre also therein, who brought in fish, and all manner of wares, and sold on the Sabbath to the children of Judah, and in Jerusalem. 17 Then I contended with the nobles of Judah, and said to them, What evil thing is this that you do, and profane the Sabbath day? 18 Didn't your fathers do thus, and did not our God bring all this evil on us, and on this city? yet you bring more wrath on Israel by profaning the Sabbath. 19 It came to pass that, when the gates of Jerusalem began to be dark before the Sabbath, I commanded that the doors should be shut, and commanded that they should not be opened until after the Sabbath: and some of my servants set I over the gates, that there should no burden be brought in on the Sabbath day. 20 So the merchants and sellers of all kind of wares lodged outside of Jerusalem once or twice. 21 Then I testified against them, and said to them, Why lodge you about the wall? if you do so again, I will lay hands on you. From that time forth came they no more on the Sabbath. 22 I commanded the Levites that they should purify themselves, and that they should come and keep the gates, to sanctify the Sabbath day. Remember to me, my God, this also, and spare me according to the greatness of your loving kindness. 23 In those days also saw I the Jews who had married women of Ashdod, of Ammon, [and] of Moab: 24 and their children spoke half in the speech of Ashdod, and could not speak in the Jews' language, but according to the language of each people. 25 I contended with them, and cursed them, and struck certain of them, and plucked off their hair, and made them swear by God, [saying], You shall not give your daughters to their sons, nor take their daughters for your sons, or for yourselves. 26 Did not Solomon king of Israel sin by these things? yet among many nations was there no king like him, and he was beloved of his God, and God made him king over all Israel: nevertheless even him did foreign women cause to sin. 27 Shall we then listen to you to do all this great evil, to trespass against our God in marrying foreign women? 28 One of the sons of Joiada, the son of Eliashib the high priest, was son-in-law to Sanballat the Horonite: therefore I chased him from me. 29 Remember them, my God, because they have defiled the priesthood, and the covenant of the priesthood, and of the Levites. 30 Thus cleansed I them from all foreigners, and appointed charges for the priests and for the Levites, everyone in his work; 31 and for the wood-offering, at times appointed, and for the first fruits. Remember me, my God, for good.
• Job 14:7-9 : 7 "For there is hope for a tree, If it is cut down, that it will sprout again, That the tender branch of it will not cease. 8 Though the root of it grows old in the earth, And the stock of it dies in the ground; 9 Yet through the scent of water it will bud, And put forth boughs like a plant. 10 But man dies, and is laid low. Yes, man gives up the spirit, and where is he? 11 As the waters fail from the sea, And the river wastes and dries up, 12 So man lies down and doesn't rise; Until the heavens are no more, they shall not awake, Nor be roused out of their sleep.
• 2 Pet 1:12-15 : 12 Therefore I will not be negligent to remind you of these things, though you know them, and are established in the present truth. 13 I think it right, as long as I am in this tent, to stir you up by reminding you; 14 knowing that the putting off of my tent comes swiftly, even as our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me. 15 Yes, I will make every effort that you may always be able to remember these things even after my departure.
• Rom 15:18-20 : 18 For I will not dare to speak of any things except those which Christ worked through me, for the obedience of the Gentiles, by word and deed, 19 in the power of signs and wonders, in the power of God's Spirit; so that from Jerusalem, and around as far as to Illyricum, I have fully preached the Gospel of Christ; 20 yes, making it my aim to preach the Gospel, not where Christ was already named, that I might not build on another's foundation.
• 1 Cor 9:24 : 24 Don't you know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run like that, that you may win.
• 1 Cor 9:26 : 26 I therefore run like that, as not uncertainly. I fight like that, as not beating the air,
• 1 Cor 15:10 : 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am. His grace which was bestowed on me was not futile, but I worked more than all of them; yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.
• 1 Cor 16:10 : 10 Now if Timothy comes, see that he is with you without fear, for he does the work of the Lord, as I also do.