translation_id: net-engnet

book_id: ECC

label: NET study note

text: In 3:2-8 , Qoheleth uses fourteen sets of merisms (a figure using polar opposites to encompass everything in between, that is, totality), e.g., Deut 6:6-9 ; Ps 139:2-3 (see E. W. Bullinger, Figures of Speech , 435).


text: This rhetorical question is an example of negative affirmation, expecting a negative answer: “Man gains nothing from his toil!” (see E. W. Bullinger, Figures of Speech , 949-51). Any advantage that man might gain from his toil is nullified by his ignorance of divine providence.


text: The Hebrew adjective translated beautifully functions as a metonymy of effect (i.e., to appear beautiful) for cause (i.e., to make it fit): “to fit beautifully.” It is used in parallelism with Qoheleth’s term for evaluation: טוֹב ( tov , “good”) in 5:17 .