Ecclesiastes Chapter 8 verse 9 Holy Bible
All this have I seen, and applied my heart unto every work that is done under the sun: `there is' a time wherein one man hath power over another to his hurt.
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All this have I seen, and have given my heart to all the work which is done under the sun: there is a time when man has power over man for his destruction.
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All this have I seen, and applied my heart unto every work that is done under the sun: there is a time when man ruleth man to his hurt.
read chapter 8 in DARBY
All this have I seen, and applied my heart unto every work that is done under the sun: there is a time wherein one man ruleth over another to his own hurt.
read chapter 8 in KJV
read chapter 8 in WBT
All this have I seen, and applied my mind to every work that is done under the sun. There is a time in which one man has power over another to his hurt.
read chapter 8 in WEB
All this I have seen so as to give my heart to every work that hath been done under the sun; a time that man hath ruled over man to his own evil.
read chapter 8 in YLT
Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerse 9. - All this have I seen (Ecclesiastes 5:18; Ecclesiastes 7:23); i.e. all that has been mentioned in the preceding eight verses, especially the conviction of retributive justice. He gained this experience by giving his mind to the consideration of men's actions. There is a time wherein one man ruleth over another to his own hurt. This version is certainly incorrect. A new sentence is not commenced here, but the clause is closely connected with what precedes; and "his own hurt" should he "his [equivocally] hurt." Thus Wright and Volck: "All this have I seen, even by applying my heart to all the work that is done under the sun, at a time when man ruleth over man to his hurt." Most modern commentators consider that the hurt is that of the oppressed subject; but it is possible that the sense is intentionally ambiguous, and the injury may be that which the despot inflicts, and that which he has to suffer. Both these have been signified above. There is no valid reason for making, as Cox does, this last clause commence ver. 10, and rendering, "But there is a time when a man ruleth over men to their hurt."
Ellicott's Commentary
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(9) Own hurt.--The Hebrew is ambiguous. We might omit "own," and understand the verse of the misery inflicted by a tyrant on his subject, not on himself. But the context speaks of the small gain from his oppressions to the tyrant himself.
