Pengkhotbah 6:2

6:2 God gives a man riches, property, and wealth

so that he lacks nothing that his heart ¹  desires, ² 

yet God does not enable ³  him to enjoy ⁴  the fruit of his labor ⁵  –

instead, someone else ⁶  enjoys ⁷  it! ⁸ 

This is fruitless and a grave misfortune. ⁹ 

Pengkhotbah 8:17

8:17 then I discerned all that God has done: ¹⁰ 

No one really comprehends what happens ¹¹  on earth. ¹² 

Despite all human ¹³  efforts to discover it, no one can ever grasp ¹⁴  it. ¹⁵ 

Even if ¹⁶  a wise person claimed ¹⁷  that he understood,

he would not really comprehend ¹⁸  it. ¹⁹ 

[6:2]  ¹ tn Heb “his appetite.”

[6:2]  ² tn Heb “There is no lack in respect to his appetite”; or “his desire lacks nothing.”

[6:2]  ³ tn The verb שָׁלַט (shalat) in the Qal stem means “to domineer; to dominate; to lord it over; to be master of” and in the Hiphil stem “to give power to” (BDB 1020 s.v. שָׁלַט) and “to grant” (HALOT 1522 s.v. שׁלט). God must grant a person the ability to enjoy the fruit of his labor, otherwise a person will not be able to enjoy his possessions and wealth. The ability to partake of the fruit of one’s labor and to find satisfaction and joy in it is a gift from God (e.g., Eccl 2:24-26; 3:13; 5:18 [19]; 9:7).

[6:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “to eat of it.” The verb אָכַל (’akhal, “to eat”) functions as a metonymy of association, that is, the action of eating is associated with the enjoyment of the fruit of one’s labor (e.g., Eccl 2:24-26; 3:12-13, 22; 5:17-19; 8:15; 9:9).

[6:2]  ⁵ tn The phrase “the fruit of his labor” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity.

[6:2]  ⁶ tn Heb “a stranger.” The Hebrew expression אִיש נָכְרִי (’ish nokhri, “stranger”) sometimes refers not to a foreigner or someone that the person does not know, but simply to someone else other than the subject (e.g., Prov 27:2). In the light of 6:3-6, it might even refer to the man’s own heirs. The term is used as a synecdoche of species (foreigner for stranger) in the sense of someone else other than the subject: “someone else” (BDB 649 s.v. נָכְרִי 3).

[6:2]  ⁷ tn Heb “eats.”

[6:2]  ⁸ sn Instead, someone else enjoys it. A person may be unable to enjoy the fruit of his/her labor due to an unfortunate turn of events that robs a person of his possessions (5:13-14) or a miserly, lifelong hoarding of one’s wealth that robs him of the ability to enjoy what he has worked so hard to acquire (5:15-17). Qoheleth recommends the enjoyment of life and the fruit of one’s labor, as God enables (5:18-20). Unfortunately, the ability to enjoy the fruits of one’s labor is often thwarted by the obstacles described in 6:1-2 and 6:3-9.

[6:2]  ⁹ tn Heb “an evil sickness.”

[8:17]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “all the work of God.”

[8:17]  ¹¹ tn Heb “the work that is done.”

[8:17]  ¹² tn Heb “under the sun.”

[8:17]  ¹³ tn Heb “his”; the referent (man, in a generic sense) has been specified in the translation as the adjective “human” for clarity.

[8:17]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “find.”

[8:17]  ¹⁵ tn The term “it” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for smoothness.

[8:17]  ¹⁶ tn The particle אִם (’im, “even if”) introduces the protasis in a real conditional clause (“If a wise man …”); see IBHS 636-37 §38.2d; R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 74, §453.

[8:17]  ¹⁷ tn The imperfect tense verb יֹאמַר (yo’mar, “to say”) functions in a modal sense, denoting possibility (see IBHS 508 §31.4e; R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 31, §169).

[8:17]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “he cannot find”; or “he does not find.”

[8:17]  ¹⁹ tn The term “it” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is an implied direct object and has been supplied in the translation for smoothness and stylistic reasons.