3:10 I have observed the burden
that God has given to people 1 to keep them occupied.
3:13 and also that everyone should eat and drink, and find enjoyment in all his toil,
for these things 2 are a gift from God.
8:2 Obey the king’s command, 3
because you took 4 an oath before God 5 to be loyal to him. 6
1 tn Heb “the sons of man.”
2 tn Heb “for it.” The referent of the 3rd person feminine singular independent person pronoun (“it”) is probably the preceding statement: “to eat, drink, and find satisfaction.” This would be an example of an anacoluthon (GKC 505-6 §167.b). Thus the present translation uses “these things” to indicate the reference back to the preceding.
3 tc The Leningrad Codex (the basis of BHS) reads אֲנִי (’ani, 1st person common singular independent personal pronoun): “I obey the king’s command.” Other medieval Hebrew
4 tn The phrase “you took” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for smoothness.
5 tn The genitive-construct שְׁבוּעַת אֱלֹהִים (shÿvu’at ’elohim, “an oath of God”) functions as a genitive of location (“an oath before God”) or an adjectival genitive of attribute (“a supreme oath”).
6 tn The words “to be loyal to him” do not appear in the Hebrew text, but are supplied in the translation for clarification.