Passage
What has been is far away and exceedingly deep. Who can find it?
Ecclesiastes 7:24 (LSB)
Nearby Context
Ecclesiastes 7:22 For your heart also knows that you likewise have many times cursed others.
Ecclesiastes 7:23 I tested all this with wisdom, and I said, “I will be wise,” but it was far from me.
Ecclesiastes 7:24 What has been is far away and exceedingly deep. Who can find it?
Ecclesiastes 7:25 I turned my heart to know, to explore, and to seek wisdom and an explanation, and to know the wickedness of foolishness and the simpleminded folly of madness.
Ecclesiastes 7:26 And I found more bitter than death the woman whose heart is snares and nets, whose hands are chains. One who is good before God will escape from her, but the sinner will be captured by her.
Study Lenses
The verse centers on "been", "away", "exceedingly", "deep", and "find". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "been" and "away", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.
The nearby context moves from verse 23's "I tested all this with wisdom and..." into verse 25's "I turned my heart to know to...", so "been" and "away" belong inside that flow. In Ecclesiastes context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.
A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "been" and "away" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.