5:18 I have seen personally what is the only beneficial and appropriate course of action for people: 1
to eat and drink, 2 and find enjoyment in all their 3 hard work 4 on earth 5
during the few days of their life which God has given them,
for this is their reward. 6
7:26 I discovered this: 7
More bitter than death is the kind of 8 woman 9 who is like a hunter’s snare; 10
her heart is like a hunter’s net and her hands are like prison chains.
The man who pleases God escapes her,
but the sinner is captured by her.
8:15 So I recommend the enjoyment of life, 11
for there is nothing better on earth 12 for a person to do 13 except 14 to eat, drink, and enjoy 15 life. 16
So 17 joy 18 will accompany him in his toil
during the days of his life which God gives him on earth. 19
8:17 then I discerned all that God has done: 20
No one really comprehends what happens 21 on earth. 22
Despite all human 23 efforts to discover it, no one can ever grasp 24 it. 25
Even if 26 a wise person claimed 27 that he understood,
he would not really comprehend 28 it. 29
9:1 So I reflected on all this, 30 attempting to clear 31 it all up.
I concluded that 32 the righteous and the wise, as well as their works, are in the hand of God;
whether a person will be loved or hated 33 –
no one knows what lies ahead. 34
11:9 Rejoice, young man, while you are young, 35
and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth.
Follow the impulses 36 of your heart and the desires 37 of your eyes,
but know that God will judge your motives and actions. 38
1 tn Heb “Behold, that which I have seen, I, good which is beautiful.” The phrase “for people” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity.
2 sn The phrase “to eat and to drink” is a common idiom in Ecclesiastes for a person enjoying the fruit of his labor (e.g., 2:24; 3:13).
3 tn Heb “his,” and three times later in the verse.
4 tn Heb “the toil which one toils.”
5 tn Heb “under the sun.”
6 tn The term חֵלֶק (kheleq, “lot”) has a wide range of meanings: (1) “share of spoils” (Gen 14:24; Num 31:36; 1 Sam 30:24), (2) “portion of food” (Lev 6:10; Deut 18:8; Hab 1:16), (3) “portion [or tract] of land” (Deut 10:9; 12:12; Josh 19:9), (4) “portion” or “possession” (Num 18:20; Deut 32:9), (5) “inheritance” (2 Kgs 9:10; Amos 7:4), (6) “portion” or “award” (Job 20:29; 27:13; 31:2; Isa 17:14) or “profit; reward” (Eccl 2:10, 21; 3:22; 5:17-18; 9:6, 9); see HALOT 323 s.v. II חֵלֶק; BDB 324 s.v. חֵלֶק. Throughout Ecclesiastes, the term is used in reference to man’s temporal profit from his labor and his reward from God (e.g., Eccl 3:22; 9:9).
7 tn The word “this” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for smoothness.
8 tn The phrase “kind of” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity (see the following note on the word “woman”).
9 tn The article on הָאִשָּׁה (ha’ishah) functions in a particularizing sense (“the kind of woman”) rather than in a generic sense (i.e., “women”).
10 tn Heb “is snares.” The plural form מְצוֹדִים (mÿtsodim, from the noun I מָצוֹד, matsod, “snare”) is used to connote either intensity, repeated or habitual action, or moral characteristic. For the function of the Hebrew plural, see IBHS 120-21 §7.4.2. The term II מָצוֹד “snare” is used in a concrete sense in reference to the hunter’s snare or net, but in a figurative sense of being ensnared by someone (Job 19:6; Prov 12:12; Eccl 7:26).
11 tn Heb “the enjoyment.” The phrase “of life” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity.
12 tn Heb “under the sun.”
13 tn The phrase “to do” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for smoothness.
14 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).
15 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).”
16 tn The term “life” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity and smoothness.
17 tn The vav introduces a logical conclusion.
18 tn Heb “it”; the referent (enjoyment of life) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
19 tn Heb “under the sun.”
20 tn Heb “all the work of God.”
21 tn Heb “the work that is done.”
22 tn Heb “under the sun.”
23 tn Heb “his”; the referent (man, in a generic sense) has been specified in the translation as the adjective “human” for clarity.
24 tn Heb “find.”
25 tn The term “it” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for smoothness.
26 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.
27 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).
28 tn Heb “he cannot find”; or “he does not find.”
29 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.
30 tn Heb “I laid all this to my heart.”
31 tn The term וְלָבוּר (velavur, conjunction + Qal infinitive construct from בּוּר, bur, “to make clear”) denotes “to examine; to make clear; to clear up; to explain” (HALOT 116 s.v. בור; BDB 101 s.v. בּוּר). The term is related to Arabic baraw “to examine” (G. R. Driver, “Supposed Arabisms in the Old Testament,” JBL 55 [1936]: 108). This verb is related to the Hebrew noun בֹּר (bor, “cleanness”) and adjective בַּר (bar, “clean”). The term is used in the OT only in Ecclesiastes (1:13; 2:3; 7:25; 9:1). This use of the infinitive has a connotative sense (“attempting to”), and functions in a complementary sense, relative to the main verb.
32 tn The words “I concluded that” do not appear in the Hebrew text, but are supplied in the translation for clarity.
33 tn Heb “whether love or hatred.”
34 tn Heb “man does not know anything before them.”
35 tn Heb “in your youth”; or “in your childhood.”
36 tn Heb “walk in the ways of your heart.”
37 tn Heb “the sight.”
38 tn Heb “and know that concerning all these God will bring you into judgment.” The point is not that following one’s impulses and desires is inherently bad and will bring condemnation from God. Rather the point seems to be: As you follow your impulses and desires, realize that all you think and do will eventually be evaluated by God. So one must seek joy within the boundaries of God’s moral standards.