Jerome
Patristic
c. A.D. 347–420
“"For everything has its time and justice, for man's evil overwhelms him. Indeed he does not know what will happen, for when it happens , who will tell him? "Many good and bad things can befall a man, but even a righteous man is not able to know what will befall him, or know the causes and reasons for each thing, (for no one can know what will happen), but he does know that all things are done by God to the advantage of man, and nothing is done without His will. For this is a great sufferance for mankind, since as the poet says: "the mind of man knows not his lot and coming fate" [Virg. Aen. 10, 501.]. If he hopes for one thing, then another happens; he expects the enemy to come from one direction and is wounded by a spear from the opposite direction. But here Theodotion and the Septuagint have said, "since the knowledge of man overwhelms him", the Hebrew has 'wickedness' not 'knowledge'. But because the Hebrew letters 'Resh' and 'Daleth' are similar without the serif, instead of "raath "they have read "daat, "that is instead of 'wickedness', 'knowledge'. This is easier to understand if you have knowledge of the language. Note too, that which is written at the end of the verse: 'since he doesn't know what has been, and what will be after him, who will tell him?' I have translated word for word here from the Hebrew text, so that we can see that there is a different meaning, since we are clearly not able to know those things which have already passed away, or those that will be, as they have yet to be done.”