Discovery Box1 Samuel 17:28-29
Context17:28 When David’s 1 oldest brother Eliab heard him speaking to the men, he became angry 2 with David and said, “Why have you come down here? To whom did you entrust those few sheep in the desert? I am familiar with your pride and deceit! 3 You have come down here to watch the battle!”
17:29 David replied, “What have I done now? Can’t I say anything?” 4
Ecclesiastes 4:4
Context4:4 Then I considered 5 all the skillful work 6 that is done:
Surely it is nothing more than 7 competition 8 between one person and another. 9
This also is profitless – like 10 chasing the wind.
[17:28] 1 tn Heb “his”; the referent (David) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[17:28] 2 tn Heb “the anger of Eliab became hot.”
[17:28] 3 tn Heb “the wickedness of your heart.”
[17:29] 4 tn Heb “Is it not [just] a word?”
[4:4] 6 tn Heb “all the toil and all the skill.” This Hebrew clause (אֶת־כָּל־עָמָל וְאֵת כָּל־כִּשְׁרוֹן, ’et-kol-’amal vÿ’et kol-kishron) is a nominal hendiadys (a figurative expression in which two independent phrases are used to connote the same thing). The second functions adverbially, modifying the first, which retains its full nominal function: “all the skillful work.”
[4:4] 7 tn The phrase “nothing more than” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity.
[4:4] 8 tn The noun קִנְאַה (qin’ah, “competition”) has a wide range of meanings: “zeal; jealousy; envy; rivalry; competition; suffering; animosity; anger; wrath” (HALOT 1110 s.v.; BDB 888 s.v.). Here, as in 9:6, it denotes “rivalry” (BDB 888 s.v. 1) or “competitive spirit” (HALOT 1110 s.v. 1.b). The LXX rendered it ζῆλος (zhlos, “envy; jealousy”). The English versions reflect this broad range: “rivalry” (NEB, NAB, NASB), “envy” (KJV, ASV, RSV, NRSV, MLB, NIV, NJPS), and “jealousy” (Moffatt).
[4:4] 9 tn Heb “a man and his neighbor.”
[4:4] 10 tn The word “like” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity.
