3:22 So I perceived there is nothing better than for people 1 to enjoy their work, 2
because that is their 3 reward;
for who can show them what the future holds? 4
8:7 Surely no one knows the future, 5
and no one can tell another person what will happen. 6
14:21 If 7 his sons are honored, 8
he does not know it; 9
if they are brought low,
he does not see 10 it.
1 tn Heb “man.”
2 tn Heb “his works.”
3 tn Heb “his.”
4 tn Heb “what will be after him” (cf. KJV, NASB, NIV) or “afterward” (cf. NJPS).
5 tn Heb “what will be.”
6 tn Heb “Who can tell him what will be?”
7 tn The clause may be interpreted as a conditional clause, with the second clause beginning with the conjunction serving as the apodosis.
8 tn There is no expressed subject for the verb “they honor,” and so it may be taken as a passive.
9 sn Death is separation from the living, from the land of the living. And ignorance of what goes on in this life, good or bad, is part of death. See also Eccl 9:5-6, which makes a similar point.
10 tn The verb is בִּין (bin, “to perceive; to discern”). The parallelism between “know” and “perceive” stress the point that in death a man does not realize what is happening here in the present life.