Ecclesiastes 2:20
ContextNETBible | So I began to despair 1 about all the fruit of 2 my labor 3 for which I worked so hard 4 on earth. 5 |
XREF | Ge 43:14; Job 17:11-15; Ps 39:6,7; 1Co 15:19; 2Co 1:8-10; 1Th 3:3,4 |
NET © Notes |
1 tn Heb “I turned aside to allow my heart despair.” 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. 2 tn The phrase “the fruit of” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity (see the following note on the word “labor”). 3 tn Heb “all my toil.” As in 2:18-19, the term עֲמָלִי (’amali, “my labor”) is a metonymy of cause (i.e., my labor) for effect (i.e., the fruit of my labor). The metonymy is recognized by several translations: “all the fruits of my labor” (NAB); “all the fruit of my labor” (NASB); “all the gains I had made” (NJPS). 4 tn Here the author uses an internal cognate accusative construction (accusative noun and verb from the same root) for emphasis: שֶׁעָמַלְתִּי הֶעָמָל (he’amal she’amalti, “the toil for which I had toiled”); see IBHS 167 §10.2.1g. 5 tn Heb “under the sun.” |