What Does Ecclesiastes 7:24 Mean in the King James?
That which is far off, and exceeding deep, who can find it out?
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
Hebrew repeats “deep” twice, so what lies far off is not simply hidden; it is depth upon depth, beyond any final finding.
THE MEANING
What you are trying to understand can feel remote and layered at once; the verse leaves room for a depth that searching does not exhaust. Its doubled “deep” holds the question open rather than treating understanding as something you can force to completion.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that every truth becomes fully accessible if you search hard enough.
THE ROOT
עָמֹק עָמֹק
ʿāmōq ʿāmōq
GROWS FROM
עמק
ʿ-m-q
To be deep; depth.
“exceeding deep” in this verse is ʿāmōq ʿāmōq. The Hebrew repeats עָמֹק (ʿāmōq, deep), while the KJV gathers the repetition into “exceeding.” This root also names a valley, giving depth a sense of place as well as degree.
ALSO GROWS
ʿēmeq: Valley; lowland.
עֵמֶק
The same root makes “deep” spatial: depth can be a place one is within, not only an idea that is hard to grasp.
maʿamaqqim: Depths.
מַעֲמַקִּים
This form presents depth as a domain, echoing the verse’s image of something no searcher can fully reach.
רָחוֹק
rāḥōq
GROWS FROM
רחק
r-ḥ-q
To be distant; to go far.
רָחוֹק (rāḥōq, far off) and עָמֹק (ʿāmōq, deep) echo each other in sound. The pairing stretches the limit in two directions at once: what is remote and what is profound.
ALSO GROWS
rāḥaq: To be far away.
רָחַק
The verb behind “far off” makes distance an active condition of being beyond reach.
hirḥîq: To put far away; remove.
הִרְחִיק
This related form extends the root’s sense from distance itself to the act of placing something at a distance.
THE PATTERN
Human searching reaches a real edge when wisdom is too deep to be fully grasped.
But where shall wisdom be found? and where is the place of understanding?Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it.O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!THE THREAD
Canst thou by searching find out God? canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection?Both verses use מָצָא (māṣāʾ, find) to ask whether what exceeds human measure can be found by searching. Job names God as the object; Ecclesiastes leaves “it” open, widening the question to whatever lies far off and deep.
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