4:2 So I considered 1 those who are dead and gone 2
more fortunate than those who are still alive. 3
4:9 Two people are better than one,
because they can reap 4 more benefit 5 from their labor.
6:8 So what advantage does a wise man have over a fool? 6
And what advantage 7 does a pauper gain by knowing how to survive? 8
1 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).
2 tn Heb “the dead who had already died.”
3 tn Heb “the living who are alive.”
4 tn Heb “they have.”
5 tn Heb “a good reward.”
7 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.
8 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).
9 tn Heb “ What to the pauper who knows to walk before the living”; or “how to get along in life.”