Pengkhotbah 4:8

4:8 A man who is all alone with no companion, ¹ 

he has no children nor siblings; ² 

yet there is no end to all his toil,

and he ³  is never satisfied with riches.

He laments, ⁴  “For whom am I toiling and depriving myself ⁵  of pleasure?” ⁶ 

This also is futile and a burdensome task! ⁷ 

Pengkhotbah 6:3

6:3 Even if a man fathers a hundred children and lives many years –

even if he lives a long, long time, ⁸  but cannot enjoy his prosperity –

even if he were to live forever ⁹  –

I would say, “A stillborn child ¹⁰  is better off than he is!” ¹¹ 

Pengkhotbah 8:14

8:14 Here is ¹²  another ¹³  enigma ¹⁴  that occurs on earth:

Sometimes there are righteous people who get what the wicked deserve, ¹⁵ 

and sometimes there are wicked people who get what the righteous deserve. ¹⁶ 

I said, “This also is an enigma.”

Pengkhotbah 8:17

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

No one really comprehends what happens ¹⁸  on earth. ¹⁹ 

Despite all human ²⁰  efforts to discover it, no one can ever grasp ²¹  it. ²² 

Even if ²³  a wise person claimed ²⁴  that he understood,

he would not really comprehend ²⁵  it. ²⁶ 

[4:8]  ¹ tn Heb “There is one and there is not a second.”

[4:8]  ² tn Heb “son nor brother.” The terms “son” and “brother” are examples of synecdoche of specific (species) for the general (genus). The term “son” is put for offspring, and “brother” for siblings (e.g., Prov 10:1).

[4:8]  ³ tn Heb “his eye.” The term “eye” is a synecdoche of part (i.e., the eye) for the whole (i.e., the whole person); see E. W. Bullinger, Figures of Speech, 647.

[4:8]  ⁴ tn The phrase “he laments” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity. The direct discourse (“For whom am I toiling and depriving myself of pleasure?”) is not introduced with an introductory structure. As in the LXX, some translations suggest that these words are spoken by a lonely workaholic, e.g., “He says…” (NAB, NEB, ASV, NIV, NRSV). Others suggest that this is a question that he never asks himself, e.g., “Yet he never asks himself…” (KJV, RSV, MLB, YLT, Douay, NASB, Moffatt).

[4:8]  ⁵ tn Heb “my soul.”

[4:8]  ⁶ tn This rhetorical question is an example of negative affirmation, that is, it expects a negative answer: “No one!” (see E. W. Bullinger, Figures of Speech, 949-51).

[4:8]  ⁷ tn The adjective רָע (ra’, “evil”) here means “misfortune” (HALOT 1263 s.v. רָעָה 4) or “injustice, wrong” (HALOT 1262 s.v. רָעָה 2.b). The phrase עִנְיַן רָע (’inyan ra’, “unhappy business; rotten business; grievous task”) is used only in Ecclesiastes (1:13; 2:23, 26; 3:10; 4:8; 5:2, 13; 8:16). It is parallel with הֶבֶל (hevel, “futile”) in 4:8, and describes a “grave misfortune” in 5:13. The noun עִנְיַן (’inyan, “business”) refers to something that keeps a person occupied or busy: “business; affair; task; occupation” (HALOT 857 s.v. עִנְיָן; BDB 775 s.v. עִנְיָן). The related verb עָנָה (’anah) means “to be occupied; to be busy with (בְּ, bet),” e.g., Eccl 1:13; 3:10; 5:19 (HALOT 854 s.v. III עָנָה; BDB 775 s.v. II עָנָה). The noun is from the Aramaic loanword עִנְיָנָא (’inyana’, “concern; care.” The verb is related to the Aramaic verb “to try hard,” the Arabic verb “to be busily occupied; to worry; to be a matter of concern,” and the Old South Arabic root “to be troubled; to strive with” (HALOT 854 s.v. III ענה). HALOT 857 s.v. עִנְיָן renders the phrase as “unhappy business” here. The phrase עִנְיַן רָע, is treated creatively by English versions: KJV, ASV “sore travail”; YLT “sad travail”; Douay “grievous vexation”; RSV, NRSV, NJPS “unhappy business”; NEB, Moffatt “sorry business”; NIV “miserable business”; NAB “worthless task”; NASB “grievous task”; MLB “sorry situation”; NLT “depressing.”

[6:3]  ⁸ tn Heb “the days of his years are many.”

[6:3]  ⁹ tn Heb “he has no burial.” The phrase וְגַם־קְבוּרָה לֹא־הָיְתָה (vÿgam-qÿvurah lo’-haytah, “he even has no burial”) is traditionally treated as part of a description of the man’s sorry final state, that is, he is deprived of even a proper burial (KJV, NEB, RSV, NRSV, ASV, NASB, NIV, NJPS, MLB, Moffatt). However, the preceding parallel lines suggest that this a hyperbolic protasis: “If he were to live one hundred years…even if he were never buried [i.e., were to live forever]….” A similar idea occurs elsewhere (e.g., Pss 49:9; 89:48). See D. R. Glenn, “Ecclesiastes,” BKCOT, 990.

[6:3]  ¹⁰ tn The noun נֶפֶל (nefel) denotes “miscarriage” and by metonymy of effect, “stillborn child” (e.g., Ps 58:9; Job 3:16; Eccl 6:3); cf. HALOT 711. The noun is related to the verb נָפַל (nafal, “to fall,” but occasionally “to be born”; see Isa 26:18); cf. HALOT 710 s.v. נפל 5.

[6:3]  ¹¹ sn The point of 6:3-6 is that the futility of unenjoyed wealth is worse than the tragedy of being stillborn.

[8:14]  ¹² tn Heb “there is.” The term יֶשׁ (yesh, “there is”) is often used in aphorisms to assert the existence of a particular situation that occurs sometimes. It may indicate that the situation is not the rule but that it does occur on occasion, and may be nuanced “sometimes” (Prov 11:24; 13:7, 23; 14:12; 16:25; 18:24; 20:15; Eccl 2:21; 4:8; 5:12; 6:1; 7:15 [2x]; 8:14 [3x]).

[8:14]  ¹³ tn The word “another” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity and smoothness.

[8:14]  ¹⁴ tn Or “vanity” (again at the end of this verse). The Hebrew term הֶבֶל (hevel) here denotes “enigma,” that is, something that is difficult to understand. This sense is derived from the literal referent of breath, vapor or wind that cannot be seen; thus, “obscure; dark; difficult to understand; enigmatic” (see HALOT 236–37 s.v. I הֶבֶל; BDB 210–11 s.v. I הֶבֶל). It is used in this sense in reference to enigmas in life (6:2; 8:10, 14) and the future which is obscure (11:8, 10).

[8:14]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “to whom it happens according to the deeds of the wicked”; or “who are punished for the deeds of the wicked.”

[8:14]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “to whom it happens according to the deeds of the righteous”; or “who are rewarded for the deeds of the righteous.”

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

[8:17]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “the work that is done.”

[8:17]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “under the sun.”

[8:17]  ²⁰ tn Heb “his”; the referent (man, in a generic sense) has been specified in the translation as the adjective “human” for clarity.

[8:17]  ²¹ tn Heb “find.”

[8:17]  ²² tn The term “it” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for smoothness.

[8:17]  ²³ 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]  ²⁴ 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]  ²⁵ tn Heb “he cannot find”; or “he does not find.”

[8:17]  ²⁶ 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.