2:13 I realized that wisdom is preferable to folly, 1
just as light is preferable to darkness:
4:2 So I considered 2 those who are dead and gone 3
more fortunate than those who are still alive. 4
4:9 Two people are better than one,
because they can reap 5 more benefit 6 from their labor.
6:8 So what advantage does a wise man have over a fool? 7
And what advantage 8 does a pauper gain by knowing how to survive? 9
3:20 Both go to the same place,
both come from the dust,
and to dust both return.
9:4 But whoever is among 10 the living 11 has hope;
a live dog is better than a dead lion.
3:19 For the fate of humans 12 and the fate of animals are the same:
As one dies, so dies the other; both have the same breath.
There is no advantage for humans over animals,
for both are fleeting.
6:3 Even if a man fathers a hundred children and lives many years –
even if he lives a long, long time, 13 but cannot enjoy his prosperity –
even if he were to live forever 14 –
I would say, “A stillborn child 15 is better off than he is!” 16
1 tn Heb “and I saw that there is profit for wisdom more than folly.”
2 tn The verb שָׁבַח (shavakh) has a two-fold range of meaning: (1) “to praise; to laud”; and (2) “to congratulate” (HALOT 1387 s.v. I שׁבח; BDB 986 s.v. II שָׁבַח). The LXX translated it as ἐπῄνεσα (ephnesa, “I praised”). The English versions reflect the range of possible meanings: “praised” (KJV, ASV, Douay); “congratulated” (MLB, NASB); “declared/judged/accounted/thought…fortunate/happy” (NJPS, NEB, NIV, RSV, NRSV, NAB).
3 tn Heb “the dead who had already died.”
4 tn Heb “the living who are alive.”
3 tn Heb “they have.”
4 tn Heb “a good reward.”
4 sn So what advantage does the wise man have over a fool? The rhetorical question in Hebrew implies a negative answer: the wise man has no absolute advantage over a fool in the sense that both will share the same fate: death. Qoheleth should not be misunderstood here as denying that wisdom has no relative advantage over folly; elsewhere he affirms that wisdom does yield some relative benefits in life (7:1-22). However, wisdom cannot deliver one from death.
5 sn As in the preceding parallel line, this rhetorical question implies a negative answer (see the note after the word “fool” in the preceding line).
6 tn Heb “ What to the pauper who knows to walk before the living”; or “how to get along in life.”
5 tn The consonantal text (Kethib) has “is chosen, selected.” The translation follows the marginal reading (Qere), “is joined.” See BDB 288 s.v. חָבַר Pu.
6 tn Heb “all the living.”
6 tn Heb “of the sons of man.”
7 tn Heb “the days of his years are many.”
8 tn 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.
9 tn 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.
10 sn The point of 6:3-6 is that the futility of unenjoyed wealth is worse than the tragedy of being stillborn.