Kejadian 23:4

23:4 “I am a temporary settler ¹  among you. Grant ²  me ownership ³  of a burial site among you so that I may ⁴  bury my dead.” ⁵ 

Kejadian 47:9

47:9 Jacob said to Pharaoh, “All ⁶  the years of my travels ⁷  are 130. All ⁸  the years of my life have been few and painful; ⁹  the years of my travels are not as long as those of my ancestors.” ¹⁰ 

Kejadian 47:1

Joseph’s Wise Administration

47:1 Joseph went and told Pharaoh, “My father, my brothers, their flocks and herds, and all that they own have arrived from the land of

Canaan. They are now ¹¹  in the land of Goshen.”

Kejadian 29:14-15

29:14 Then Laban said to him, “You are indeed my own flesh and blood.” ¹²  So Jacob ¹³  stayed with him for a month. ¹⁴ 

29:15 Then Laban said to Jacob, “Should you work ¹⁵  for me for nothing because you are my relative? ¹⁶  Tell me what your wages should be.”

Mazmur 39:12

39:12 Hear my prayer, O Lord!

Listen to my cry for help!

Do not ignore my sobbing! ¹⁷ 

For I am dependent on you, like one residing outside his native land;

I am at your mercy, just as all my ancestors were. ¹⁸ 

Mazmur 119:19

119:19 I am like a foreigner in this land. ¹⁹ 

Do not hide your commands from me!

Mazmur 119:1

Psalm 119 ²⁰ 

א (Alef)

119:1 How blessed are those whose actions are blameless, ²¹ 

who obey ²²  the law of the Lord.

Pengkhotbah 1:17

1:17 So I decided ²³  to discern the benefit of ²⁴  wisdom and knowledge over ²⁵  foolish behavior and ideas; ²⁶ 

however, I concluded ²⁷  that even ²⁸  this endeavor ²⁹  is like ³⁰  trying to chase the wind! ³¹ 

Pengkhotbah 2:11

2:11 Yet when I reflected on everything I had accomplished ³² 

and on all the effort that I had expended to accomplish it, ³³ 

I concluded: ³⁴  “All these ³⁵  achievements and possessions ³⁶  are ultimately ³⁷  profitless ³⁸  –

like chasing the wind!

There is nothing gained ³⁹  from them ⁴⁰  on earth.” ⁴¹ 

[23:4]  ¹ tn Heb “a resident alien and a settler.”

[23:4]  ² tn Heb “give,” which is used here as an idiom for “sell” (see v. 9). The idiom reflects the polite bartering that was done in the culture at the time.

[23:4]  ³ tn Or “possession.”

[23:4]  ⁴ tn Following the imperative, the cohortative with the prefixed conjunction expresses purpose.

[23:4]  ⁵ tn Heb “bury my dead out of my sight.” The last phrase “out of my sight” has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[47:9]  ⁶ tn Heb “the days of.”

[47:9]  ⁷ tn Heb “sojournings.” Jacob uses a term that depicts him as one who has lived an unsettled life, temporarily residing in many different places.

[47:9]  ⁸ tn Heb “the days of.”

[47:9]  ⁹ tn The Hebrew word רַע (ra’) can sometimes mean “evil,” but that would give the wrong connotation here, where it refers to pain, difficulty, and sorrow. Jacob is thinking back through all the troubles he had to endure to get to this point.

[47:9]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and they have not reached the days of the years of my fathers in the days of their sojournings.”

[47:1]  ¹¹ tn Heb “Look they [are] in the land of Goshen.” Joseph draws attention to the fact of their presence in Goshen.

[29:14]  ¹² tn Heb “indeed, my bone and my flesh are you.” The expression sounds warm enough, but the presence of “indeed” may suggest that Laban had to be convinced of Jacob’s identity before permitting him to stay. To be one’s “bone and flesh” is to be someone’s blood relative. For example, the phrase describes the relationship between Abimelech and the Shechemites (Judg 9:2; his mother was a Shechemite); David and the Israelites (2 Sam 5:1); David and the elders of Judah (2 Sam 19:12,); and David and his nephew Amasa (2 Sam 19:13, see 2 Sam 17:2; 1 Chr 2:16-17).

[29:14]  ¹³ tn Heb “and he”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[29:14]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “a month of days.”

[29:15]  ¹⁵ tn The verb is the perfect with the vav (ו) consecutive; the nuance in the question is deliberative.

[29:15]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “my brother.” The term “brother” is used in a loose sense; actually Jacob was Laban’s nephew.

[39:12]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “do not be deaf to my tears.”

[39:12]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “For a resident alien [am] I with you, a sojourner like all my fathers.”

[39:12]  sn Resident aliens were dependent on the mercy and goodwill of others. The Lord was concerned that resident aliens be treated properly. See Deut 24:17-22, Ps 146:9.

[119:19]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “I am a resident alien in the land.” Resident aliens were especially vulnerable and in need of help. They needed to know the social and legal customs of the land to avoid getting into trouble. The translation (note the addition of “like”) assumes the psalmist is speaking metaphorically, not literally.

[119:1]  ²⁰ sn Psalm 119. The psalmist celebrates God’s law and the guidance it provides his people. He expresses his desire to know God’s law thoroughly so that he might experience the blessings that come to those who obey it. This lengthy psalm exhibits an elaborate acrostic pattern. The psalm is divided into twenty-two sections (corresponding to the letters of the Hebrew alphabet), each of which is comprised of eight verses. Each of the verses in the first section (vv. 1-8) begins with the letter alef (א), the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet. This pattern continues throughout the psalm as each new section highlights a successive letter of the alphabet. Each verse in section two (vv. 9-16) begins with the second letter of the alphabet, each verse in section three (vv. 17-24) with the third letter, etc. This rigid pattern creates a sense of order and completeness and may have facilitated memorization.

[119:1]  ²¹ tn Heb “[Oh] the happiness of those who are blameless of way.”

[119:1]  ²² tn Heb “walk in.”

[1:17]  ²³ tn Heb “gave my heart,” or “set my mind.” See v. 13.

[1:17]  ²⁴ tn The phrase “the benefit of” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity.

[1:17]  ²⁵ tn The word “over” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity.

[1:17]  ²⁶ tn The terms שִׂכְלוּת (sikhlut, “folly”) and הוֹלֵלוֹת (holelot, “foolishness”) are synonyms. The term שִׂכְלוּת (alternate spelling of סִכְלוּת, sikhlut) refers to foolish behavior (HALOT 755 s.v. סִכְלוּת), while הוֹלֵלוֹת refers to foolish ideas and mental blindness (HALOT 242 s.v. הוֹלֵלוֹת). Qoheleth uses these terms to refer to foolish ideas and self-indulgent pleasures (e.g., Eccl 2:2-3, 12-14; 7:25; 9:3; 10:1, 6, 13).

[1:17]  ²⁷ tn Heb “I know.”

[1:17]  ²⁸ tn The term גַּם (gam, “even”) is a particle of association and emphasis (HALOT 195 s.v. גַּם).

[1:17]  ²⁹ tn This term does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity.

[1:17]  ³⁰ tn This term does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity.

[1:17]  ³¹ tn Heb “striving of wind.”

[2:11]  ³² tn Heb “all my works that my hands had done.”

[2:11]  ³³ tn Heb “and all the toil with which I had toiled in doing it.” The term עָמַל (’amal, “toil”) is repeated to emphasize the burden and weariness of the labor which Qoheleth exerted in his accomplishments.

[2:11]  ³⁴ tn Heb “Behold!”

[2:11]  ³⁵ tn The term הַכֹּל (hakkol, “everything” or “all”) must be qualified and limited in reference to the topic that is dealt with in 2:4-11. This is an example of synecdoche of general for the specific; the general term “all” is used only in reference to the topic at hand. This is clear from the repetition of כֹּל (kol, “everything”) and (“all these things”) in 2:11.

[2:11]  ³⁶ tn The phrase “achievements and possessions” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in translation for clarity.

[2:11]  ³⁷ tn The term “ultimately” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity.

[2:11]  ³⁸ tn The parallelism with יִתְרוֹן (yitron), “profit; advantage; gain”) indicates that הֶבֶל (hevel) should be nuanced as “profitless, fruitless, futile” in this context. While labor offers some relative and temporal benefits, such as material acquisitions and the enjoyment of the work of one’s hands, there is no ultimate benefit to be gained from secular human achievement.

[2:11]  ³⁹ tn The noun יִתְרוֹן (yitron, “profit”) has a two-fold range of meanings: (1) “what comes of [something]; result” (Eccl 1:3; 2:11; 3:9; 5:8, 15; 7:12; 10:10) and (2) “profit; advantage” (Eccl 2:13; 10:11); see HALOT 452–53 s.v. יִתְרוֹי. It is derived from the noun יֶתֶר (yeter, “what is left behind; remainder”; HALOT 452 s.v. I יֶתֶר). The related verb יָתַר (yatar) denotes “to be left over; to survive” (Niphal) and “to have left over” (Hiphil); see HALOT 451–52 s.v. יתר. When used literally, יִתְרוֹן refers to what is left over after expenses (gain or profit); when used figuratively, it refers to what is advantageous or of benefit. Though some things have relative advantage over others (e.g., light over darkness, and wisdom over folly in 2:13), there is no ultimate profit in man’s labor due to death.

[2:11]  ⁴⁰ tn The phrase “from them” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity.

[2:11]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “under the sun.”