translation_id: net-engnet

book_id: ECC

label: NET translator note

text: The term יֵשׁ ( 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]).


text: The noun רָעָה ( ra ’ ah , “evil”) probably means “misfortune” ( HALOT 1263 s.v. רָעָה 4) or “injustice, wrong” ( HALOT 1262 s.v. רָעָה 2.b); see, e.g., Eccl 2:17; 5:12, 15; 6:1; 10:5 .


text: Heb “under the sun.”


text: The word “weighs” does not appear in Hebrew, but is added in the translation for smoothness.


text: Heb “it is great upon men.” The phrase וְרַבָּה הִיא עַל־הָאָדָם ( vÿrabbah hi ’ ’ al-ha ’ adam ) is taken in two basic ways: (1) commonality: “it is common among men” (KJV, MLB), “it is prevalent among men” (NASB), “that is frequent among men” (Douay). (2) oppressiveness: “it lies heavy upon men” (RSV, NRSV), “it weighs heavily upon men” (NEB, NAB, NIV), “it presses heavily on men” (Moffatt), “it is heavy upon men” (ASV), and “a grave one it is for man” (NJPS). The preposition עַל (’ al , “upon”) argues against the first in favor of the second; the notion of commonality would be denoted by the preposition בְּ ( bet , “among”). The singular noun אָדָם (’ adam ) is used as a collective, denoting “men.” The article on הָאָדָם ( ha ’ adam ) is used in a generic sense referring to humankind as a whole; the generic article is often used with a collective singular ( IBHS 244 §13.5.1f).


text: Heb “his appetite.”


text: Heb “There is no lack in respect to his appetite”; or “his desire lacks nothing.”


text: The verb שָׁלַט ( shalat ) in the Qal stem means “to domineer; to dominate; to lord it over; to be master of” and in the Hiphil stem “to give power to” (BDB 1020 s.v. שָׁלַט ) and “to grant” ( HALOT 1522 s.v. שׁלט ). God must grant a person the ability to enjoy the fruit of his labor, otherwise a person will not be able to enjoy his possessions and wealth. The ability to partake of the fruit of one’s labor and to find satisfaction and joy in it is a gift from God (e.g., Eccl 2:24-26; 3:13; 5:18 [19]; 9:7 ).


text: Heb “to eat of it.” The verb אָכַל (’ akhal , “to eat”) functions as a metonymy of association, that is, the action of eating is associated with the enjoyment of the fruit of one’s labor (e.g., Eccl 2:24-26; 3:12-13, 22; 5:17-19; 8:15; 9:9 ).


text: The phrase “the fruit of his labor” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity.


text: Heb “a stranger.” The Hebrew expression אִיש נָכְרִי (’ ish nokhri , “stranger”) sometimes refers not to a foreigner or someone that the person does not know, but simply to someone else other than the subject (e.g., Prov 27:2 ). In the light of 6:3-6 , it might even refer to the man’s own heirs. The term is used as a synecdoche of species (foreigner for stranger) in the sense of someone else other than the subject: “someone else” (BDB 649 s.v. נָכְרִי 3).


text: Heb “eats.”


text: Heb “an evil sickness.”


text: Heb “the days of his years are many.”


text: 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.


text: 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.


text: Heb “he”; the referent (“the stillborn child”) has been specified in the translation for clarity.


text: The phrase “into the world” does not appear in Hebrew, but is added in the translation for clarity.


text: Heb “it never saw the sun.”


text: The word “anything” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity.


text: Heb “Do not all go to the same place?” The rhetorical question is an example of erotesis of positive affirmation, expecting a positive answer, e.g., Ps 56:13 [14] (see E. W. Bullinger, Figures of Speech , 947). It affirms the fact that both the miserly rich man who lives two thousand years, as well as the stillborn who never lived one day, both go to the same place – the grave. And if the miserly rich man never enjoyed the fruit of his labor during his life, his fate was no better than that of the stillborn who never had opportunity to enjoy any of the blessings of life. In a sense, it would have been better for the miserly rich man to have never lived than to have experienced the toil, anxiety, and misery of accumulating his wealth, but never enjoying any of the fruits of his labor.


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


text: Heb “All man’s work is for his mouth.” The term “mouth” functions as a synecdoche of part (i.e., mouth) for the whole (i.e., person), substituting the organ of consumption for the person’s action of consumption (see E. W. Bullinger, Figures of Speech , 641-43), as suggested by the parallelism with נֶפֶשׁ ( nefesh , “his appetite”).


text: The term נֶפֶשׁ ( nefesh , “desire; appetite”) is used as a metonymy of association, that is, the soul is associated with man’s desires and appetites (BDB 660 s.v. נֶפֶשׁ 5.c; 6.a).


text: Heb “ What to the pauper who knows to walk before the living”; or “how to get along in life.”


text: The phrase “to be content with” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity.


text: The expression מַרְאֵה עֵינַיִם ( mar ’ eh ’ enayim , “the seeing of the eyes”) is a metonymy of cause (i.e., seeing an object) for effect (i.e., being content with what the eyes can see); see E. W. Bullinger, Figures of Speech , 552-54.


text: Heb “the roaming of the soul.” The expression מֵהֲלָךְ־נָפֶשׁ ( mehalakh-nafesh , “the roaming of the soul”) is a metonymy for unfulfilled desires. The term “soul” ( נֶפֶשׁ , nefesh ) is used as a metonymy of association for man’s desires and appetites (BDB 660 s.v. נֶפֶשׁ 5.c; 6.a). This also involves the personification of the roving appetite as “roving” ( מֵהֲלָךְ ); see BDB 235 s.v. הָלַךְ II.3.f; 232 I.3.


text: The phrase “continual longing” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity.


text: The term “like” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity and smoothness.


text: Heb “already its name was called.”


text: Or “and what a person ( Heb “man”) is was foreknown.”


text: Heb “he cannot contend with the one who is more powerful than him.” The referent of the “the one who is more powerful than he is” (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity. The words “with God about his fate” have been added for clarity as well.


text: Heb “The more the words, the more the futility.”


text: Or “What benefit does man have [in that]?”


text: Heb “For who knows what is good for a man in life?” The rhetorical question (“For who knows…?”) is a negative affirmation, expecting a negative answer: “For no one knows…!” (see E. W. Bullinger, Figures of Speech , 949-51). The translation renders this rhetorical device as a positive affirmation.


text: The vav prefixed to וְיַעֲשֵׂם ( vÿya ’ asem , conjunction + Qal imperfect 3rd person masculine singular from עָשַׂה , ’ asah , “to do” + 3rd person masculine plural suffix) functions in an explanatory or epexegetical sense (“For …”).


text: The 3rd person masculine plural suffix on the verb וְיַעֲשֵׂם ( vÿya ’ asem , conjunction + Qal imperfect 3rd person masculine singular from ָָעשַׂה , ’ asah , “to do” + 3rd person masculine plural suffix) refers to מִסְפַּר יְמֵי־חַיֵּי הֶבְלוֹ ( mispar yÿme-khayye hevlo , “the few days of his fleeting life”). The suffix may be taken as an objective genitive: “he spends them [i.e., the days of his life] like a shadow” ( HALOT 891 s.v. I ָָעשַׂה 8) or as a subjective genitive: “they [i.e., the days of his life] pass like a shadow” (BDB 795 s.v. ָָעשַׂה II.11).


text: Heb “Who can tell the man what shall be after him under the sun?” The rhetorical question (“For who can tell him…?”) is a negative affirmation, expecting a negative answer: “For no one can tell him…!” (see E. W. Bullinger, Figures of Speech , 949-51). The translation renders this rhetorical device as a positive affirmation.