Pengkhotbah 2:22
Konteks2:22 What does a man acquire from all his labor
and from the anxiety that accompanies his toil on earth? 1
Pengkhotbah 3:9
Konteks3:9 What benefit can a worker 2 gain from his toil? 3
Pengkhotbah 5:16
Konteks5:16 This is another misfortune: 4
Just as he came, so will he go.
What did he gain from toiling for the wind?
[2:22] 1 tn Heb “under the sun.” The rhetorical question is an example of negative affirmation, expecting a negative answer: “Man acquires nothing” (see E. W. Bullinger, Figures of Speech, 949-51).
[3:9] 2 tn The term הָעוֹשֶׂה (ha’oseh, article + Qal active participle ms from עָשַׂה, ’asah, “to do”) functions substantively (“the worker”); see BDB 794 s.v. עָשַׂה II.1. This is a figurative description of man (metonymy of association), and plays on the repetition of עָשַׂה (verb: “to do,” noun: “work”) throughout the passage. In the light of God’s orchestration of human affairs, man’s efforts cannot change anything. It refers to man in general with the article functioning in a generic sense (see IBHS 244-45 §13.5.1f; Joüon 2:511 §137.m).
[3:9] 3 sn This rhetorical question is an example of negative affirmation, expecting a negative answer: “Man gains nothing from his toil!” (see E. W. Bullinger, Figures of Speech, 949-51). Any advantage that man might gain from his toil is nullified by his ignorance of divine providence.
[5:16] 4 tn See the note on the phrase “depressing misfortune” in v. 13.