Pengkhotbah 8:15

Enjoy Life In Spite of Its Injustices

8:15 So I recommend the enjoyment of life, ¹ 

for there is nothing better on earth ²  for a person to do ³  except ⁴  to eat, drink, and enjoy ⁵  life. ⁶ 

So ⁷  joy ⁸  will accompany him in his toil

during the days of his life which God gives him on earth. ⁹ 

Yesaya 22:13

22:13 But look, there is outright celebration! ¹⁰ 

You say, “Kill the ox and slaughter the sheep,

eat meat and drink wine.

Eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!” ¹¹ 

Yesaya 22:1

The Lord Will Judge Jerusalem

22:1 Here is a message about the Valley of Vision: ¹² 

What is the reason ¹³ 

that all of you go up to the rooftops?

Kolose 1:1

Salutation

1:1 From Paul, ¹⁴  an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

[8:15]  ¹ tn Heb “the enjoyment.” The phrase “of life” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity.

[8:15]  ² tn Heb “under the sun.”

[8:15]  ³ tn The phrase “to do” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for smoothness.

[8:15]  ⁴ tn The construction אִם…כִּי (ki…’im) is used as a particle of exception to limit the preceding clause (“except; nothing but”). See, e.g., Gen 28:17; 39:9; Lev 21:2; Num 14:30; Deut 10:12; 1 Sam 30:22; 2 Kgs 4:2; 5:15; 2 Chr 21:17; Esth 2:15; 5:12; Eccl 3:12; Isa 42:19; Dan 10:21; Mic 6:8 (cf. HALOT 471 s.v. אִם כִּי B.2; BDB 474 s.v. אִם כִּי 2.a).

[8:15]  ⁵ sn Except to eat, drink, and enjoy life. Qoheleth is not commending a self-indulgent lifestyle of Epicurean hedonism. Nor is he lamenting the absolute futility of life and the lack of eternal retribution. He is submitting to the reality that in a sin-cursed world there is much of human existence marked by relative futility. Since the righteous man cannot assume that he will automatically experience temporal prosperity and blessings on this earth, he should – at the very least – enjoy each day to its fullest as a gift from God. D. R. Glenn (“Ecclesiastes,” BKCOT, 997) notes, “Each day’s joys should be received as gifts from God’s hands and be savored as God permits (3:13; 5:19).”

[8:15]  ⁶ tn The term “life” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity and smoothness.

[8:15]  ⁷ tn The vav introduces a logical conclusion.

[8:15]  ⁸ tn Heb “it”; the referent (enjoyment of life) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[8:15]  ⁹ tn Heb “under the sun.”

[22:13]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “happiness and joy.”

[22:13]  ¹¹ tn The prophet here quotes what the fatalistic people are saying. The introductory “you say” is supplied in the translation for clarification; the concluding verb “we die” makes it clear the people are speaking. The six verbs translated as imperatives are actually infinitives absolute, functioning here as finite verbs.

[22:1]  ¹² sn The following message pertains to Jerusalem. The significance of referring to the city as the Valley of Vision is uncertain. Perhaps the Hinnom Valley is in view, but why it is associated with a prophetic revelatory “vision” is not entirely clear. Maybe the Hinnom Valley is called this because the destruction that will take place there is the focal point of this prophetic message (see v. 5).

[22:1]  ¹³ tn Heb “What to you, then?”

[1:1]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “Paul.” The word “from” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.