Ecclesiastes 4:4

Then I considered ¹  all the skillful work ²  that is done: Surely it is nothing more than ³  competition ⁴  between one person and another. ⁵  This also is profitless – like ⁶  chasing the wind.

And I saw that all labour and all achievement spring from man’s envy of his neighbour. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.

I have seen that every labor and every skill which is done is the result of rivalry between a man and his neighbor. This too is vanity and striving after wind.

Then I observed that most people are motivated to success by their envy of their neighbors. But this, too, is meaningless, like chasing the wind.

Then I observed all the work and ambition motivated by envy. What a waste! Smoke. And spitting into the wind.

And I saw that the cause of all the work and of everything which is done well was man’s envy of his neighbour. This again is to no purpose and a desire for wind.

Then I saw that all toil and all skill in work come from one person’s envy of another. This also is vanity and a chasing after wind.

Again, I saw that for all toil and every skillful work a man is envied by his neighbor. This also is vanity and grasping for the wind.

Then I considered ¹  all the skillful work ²  that is done: Surely it is nothing more than ³  competition ⁴  between one person and another. ⁵  This also is profitless – like ⁶  chasing the wind.

¹ tn Heb “saw.”

² tn Heb “all the toil and all the skill.” This Hebrew clause (אֶת־כָּל־עָמָל וְאֵת כָּל־כִּשְׁרוֹן, ’et-kol-’amal vÿ’et kol-kishron) is a nominal hendiadys (a figurative expression in which two independent phrases are used to connote the same thing). The second functions adverbially, modifying the first, which retains its full nominal function: “all the skillful work.”

³ tn The phrase “nothing more than” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity.

⁴ tn The noun קִנְאַה (qin’ah, “competition”) has a wide range of meanings: “zeal; jealousy; envy; rivalry; competition; suffering; animosity; anger; wrath” (HALOT 1110 s.v.; BDB 888 s.v.). Here, as in 9:6, it denotes “rivalry” (BDB 888 s.v. 1) or “competitive spirit” (HALOT 1110 s.v. 1.b). The LXX rendered it ζῆλος (zhlos, “envy; jealousy”). The English versions reflect this broad range: “rivalry” (NEB, NAB, NASB), “envy” (KJV, ASV, RSV, NRSV, MLB, NIV, NJPS), and “jealousy” (Moffatt).

⁵ tn Heb “a man and his neighbor.”

⁶ tn The word “like” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity.