Ecclesiastes 1:15 “What is crooked cannot be straightened, and what is lacking cannot be…”

Ecclesiastes 1:15

What is crooked cannot be straightened, and what is lacking cannot be counted.

Berean Standard Bible

Other translations

King James Version

That which is crooked cannot be made straight: and that which is wanting cannot be numbered.

World English Bible

That which is crooked can’t be made straight; and that which is lacking can’t be counted.

American Standard Version

That which is crooked cannot be made straight; and that which is wanting cannot be numbered.

Geneva Bible 1599

That which is crooked, can none make straight: and that which faileth, cannot be nombred.

Darby Translation

That which is crooked cannot be made straight; and that which is wanting cannot be numbered.

Young's Literal Translation

A crooked thing [one] is not able to make straight, and a lacking thing is not able to be numbered.

Bible in Basic English

That which is bent may not be made straight, and that which is not there may not be numbered.

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Cross references

“crooked”

Matthew 6:27 Ecclesiastes 3:14 Isaiah 40:4 Job 11:6 Job 34:29 Lamentations 3:37

Matthew 6:27 · BSB

Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?

Ecclesiastes 3:14 · BSB

I know that everything God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it or taken from it. God does it so that they should fear Him.

Isaiah 40:4 · BSB

Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill made low; the uneven ground will become smooth, and the rugged land a plain.

Job 11:6 · BSB

and disclose to you the secrets of wisdom, for true wisdom has two sides. Know then that God exacts from you less than your iniquity deserves.

Job 34:29 · BSB

But when He remains silent, who can condemn Him? When He hides His face, who can see Him? Yet He watches over both man and nation,

Lamentations 3:37 · BSB

Who has spoken and it came to pass, unless the Lord has ordained it?

Cross references adapted from OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0) and the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.

In context

14I have seen all the things that are done under the sun, and have found them all to be futile, a pursuit of the wind.

16I said to myself, “Behold, I have grown and increased in wisdom beyond all those before me who were over Jerusalem, and my mind has observed a wealth of wisdom and knowledge.”

Read Ecclesiastes 1