When I thought to know this,.... How to reconcile the prosperity of the wicked, and the afflictions of the righteous, to the perfections of God, and his wise providence in the government of the world, by the mere dint of reason, without consulting the sacred oracles, or his own and others' experience: it was too painful for me: too laborious and toilsome, a work he was not equal to; "hic labor, hoc opus"; see Ecc 8:17.