Pengkhotbah 2:10

2:10 I did not restrain myself from getting whatever I wanted; ¹ 

I did not deny myself anything that would bring me pleasure. ² 

So all my accomplishments gave me joy; ³ 

this was my reward for all my effort. ⁴ 

Pengkhotbah 2:15

2:15 So I thought to myself, “The fate of the fool will happen even to me! ⁵ 

Then what did I gain by becoming so excessively ⁶  wise?” ⁷ 

So I lamented to myself, ⁸ 

“The benefits of wisdom ⁹  are ultimately ¹⁰  meaningless!”

[2:10]  ¹ tn Heb “all which my eyes asked for, I did not withhold from them.”

[2:10]  ² tn Heb “I did not refuse my heart any pleasure.” The term לִבִּי (libbi, “my heart”) is a synecdoche of part (i.e., heart) for the whole (i.e., whole person); see E. W. Bullinger, Figures of Speech, 648. The term is repeated twice in 2:10 for emphasis.

[2:10]  ³ tn Heb “So my heart was joyful from all my toil.”

[2:10]  ⁴ tn Heb “and this was my portion from all my toil.”

[2:15]  ⁵ tn The emphatic use of the 1st person common singular personal pronoun אֲנִי (’ani, “me”) with the emphatic particle of association גַּם (gam, “even, as well as”; HALOT 195–96 s.v. גַּם) appears to emphasize the 1st person common singular suffix on יִקְרֵנִי (yiqreni) “it will befall [or “happen to”] me” (Qal imperfect 3rd person masculine singular + 1st person common singular suffix from קָרָה, qarah, “to befall; to happen to”); see GKC 438 §135.e. Qoheleth laments not that the fate of the wise man is the same as that of the fool, but that even he himself – the wisest man of all – would fare no better in the end than the most foolish.

[2:15]  ⁶ tn The adjective יוֹתֵר (yoter) means “too much; excessive,” e.g., 7:16 “excessively righteous” (HALOT 404 s.v. יוֹתֵר 2; BDB 452 s.v. יוֹתֵר). It is derived from the root יֶתֶר (yeter, “what is left over”); see HALOT 452 s.v. I יֶתֶר. It is related to the verbal root יתר (Niphal “to be left over”; Hiphil “to have left over”); see HALOT 451–52 s.v. I יתר. The adjective is related to יִתְרוֹן (yitron, “advantage; profit”) which is a key-term in this section, creating a word-play: The wise man has a relative “advantage” (יִתְרוֹן) over the fool (2:13-14a); however, there is no ultimate advantage because both share the same fate, i.e., death (2:14b-15a). Thus, Qoheleth’s acquisition of tremendous wisdom (1:16; 2:9) was “excessive” because it exceeded its relative advantage over folly: it could not deliver him from the same fate as the fool. He had striven to obtain wisdom, yet it held no ultimate advantage.

[2:15]  ⁷ tn Heb “And why was I wise (to) excess?” The rhetorical question is an example of negative affirmation, expecting a negative answer: “I gained nothing!” (E. W. Bullinger, Figures of Speech, 949).

[2:15]  ⁸ tn Heb “So I said in my heart.”

[2:15]  ⁹ tn Heb “and also this,” referring to the relative advantage of wisdom over folly.

[2:15]  ¹⁰ tn The word “ultimately” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity.