Pengkhotbah 1:8

1:8 All this ¹  monotony ²  is tiresome; no one can bear ³  to describe it: ⁴ 

The eye is never satisfied with seeing, nor is the ear ever content ⁵  with hearing.

Pengkhotbah 6:12

6:12 For no one knows what is best for a person during his life ⁶  –

during the few days of his fleeting life –

for ⁷  they pass away ⁸  like a shadow.

Nor can anyone tell him what the future will hold for him on earth. ⁹ 

Pengkhotbah 8:8

8:8 Just as no one has power over the wind to restrain it, ¹⁰ 

so no one has power over the day of his ¹¹  death.

Just as no one can be discharged during the battle, ¹² 

so wickedness cannot rescue the wicked. ¹³ 

Pengkhotbah 8:15

Enjoy Life In Spite of Its Injustices

8:15 So I recommend the enjoyment of life, ¹⁴ 

for there is nothing better on earth ¹⁵  for a person to do ¹⁶  except ¹⁷  to eat, drink, and enjoy ¹⁸  life. ¹⁹ 

So ²⁰  joy ²¹  will accompany him in his toil

during the days of his life which God gives him on earth. ²² 

[1:8]  ¹ tn The word “this” is not in Hebrew, but is supplied in the translation for clarity.

[1:8]  ² tn Heb “the things.” The Hebrew term דְּבָרִים (dÿvarim, masculine plural noun from דָּבָר, davar) is often used to denote “words,” but it can also refer to actions and events (HALOT 211 s.v. דָּבָר 3.a; BDB 183 s.v. דָּבָר IV.4). Here, it means “things,” as is clear from the context: “What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done” (1:9). Here דְּבָרִים can be nuanced “occurrences” or even “[natural] phenomena.”

[1:8]  ³ tn Heb “is able.”

[1:8]  ⁴ tn The Hebrew text has no stated object. The translation supplies “it” for stylistic reasons and clarification.

[1:8]  sn The statement no one can bear to describe it probably means that Qoheleth could have multiplied examples (beyond the sun, the wind, and the streams) of the endless cycle of futile events in nature. However, no tongue could ever tell, no eye could ever see, no ear could ever hear all the examples of this continual and futile activity.

[1:8]  ⁵ tn The term מָלֵא (male’, “to be filled, to be satisfied”) is repeated in 1:7-8 to draw a comparison between the futility in the cycle of nature and human secular accomplishments: lots of action, but no lasting effects. In 1:7 אֵינֶנּוּ מָלֵא (’enennu male’, “it is never filled”) describes the futility of the water cycle: “All the rivers flow into the sea, yet the sea is never filled.” In 1:8 וְלֹא־תִמָּלֵא (vÿlo-timmale’, “it is never satisfied”) describes the futility of human labor: “the ear is never satisfied with hearing.”

[6:12]  ⁶ tn Heb “For who knows what is good for a man in life?” The rhetorical question (“For who knows…?”) is a negative affirmation, expecting a negative answer: “For no one knows…!” (see E. W. Bullinger, Figures of Speech, 949-51). The translation renders this rhetorical device as a positive affirmation.

[6:12]  ⁷ tn The vav prefixed to וְיַעֲשֵׂם (vÿya’asem, conjunction + Qal imperfect 3rd person masculine singular from עָשַׂה, ’asah, “to do” + 3rd person masculine plural suffix) functions in an explanatory or epexegetical sense (“For …”).

[6:12]  ⁸ tn The 3rd person masculine plural suffix on the verb וְיַעֲשֵׂם (vÿya’asem, conjunction + Qal imperfect 3rd person masculine singular from ָָעשַׂה, ’asah, “to do” + 3rd person masculine plural suffix) refers to מִסְפַּר יְמֵי־חַיֵּי הֶבְלוֹ (mispar yÿme-khayye hevlo, “the few days of his fleeting life”). The suffix may be taken as an objective genitive: “he spends them [i.e., the days of his life] like a shadow” (HALOT 891 s.v. I ָָעשַׂה 8) or as a subjective genitive: “they [i.e., the days of his life] pass like a shadow” (BDB 795 s.v. ָָעשַׂה II.11).

[6:12]  ⁹ tn Heb “Who can tell the man what shall be after him under the sun?” The rhetorical question (“For who can tell him…?”) is a negative affirmation, expecting a negative answer: “For no one can tell him…!” (see E. W. Bullinger, Figures of Speech, 949-51). The translation renders this rhetorical device as a positive affirmation.

[8:8]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “There is not a man who has mastery over the wind to restrain the wind.”

[8:8]  ¹¹ tn The word “his” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity.

[8:8]  ¹² tn Heb “There is no discharge in war.”

[8:8]  ¹³ tn Heb “its owners.”

[8:15]  ¹⁴ 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]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “under the sun.”

[8:15]  ¹⁶ tn The phrase “to do” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for smoothness.

[8:15]  ¹⁷ 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]  ¹⁸ 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]  ¹⁹ tn The term “life” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity and smoothness.

[8:15]  ²⁰ tn The vav introduces a logical conclusion.

[8:15]  ²¹ tn Heb “it”; the referent (enjoyment of life) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[8:15]  ²² tn Heb “under the sun.”