Ecclesiastes 12:7-8

12:7 and the dust returns to the earth as it was,

and the life’s breath ¹  returns to God who gave it.

Concluding Refrain: Qoheleth Restates His Thesis

12:8 “Absolutely futile!” ²  laments the Teacher, ³ 

“All of these things ⁴  are futile!” ⁵ 

Ecclesiastes 12:13-14

12:13 Having heard everything, I have reached this conclusion: ⁶ 

Fear God and keep his commandments,

because this is the whole duty ⁷  of man.

12:14 For God will evaluate every deed, ⁸ 

including every secret thing, whether good or evil.

Isaiah 24:1-2

The Lord Will Judge the Earth

24:1 Look, the Lord is ready to devastate the earth

and leave it in ruins;

he will mar its surface

and scatter its inhabitants.

24:2 Everyone will suffer – the priest as well as the people, ⁹ 

the master as well as the servant, ¹⁰ 

the elegant lady as well as the female attendant, ¹¹ 

the seller as well as the buyer, ¹² 

the borrower as well as the lender, ¹³ 

the creditor as well as the debtor. ¹⁴ 

Isaiah 40:6-8

40:6 A voice says, “Cry out!”

Another asks, ¹⁵  “What should I cry out?”

The first voice responds: ¹⁶  “All people are like grass, ¹⁷ 

and all their promises ¹⁸  are like the flowers in the field.

40:7 The grass dries up,

the flowers wither,

when the wind sent by the Lord ¹⁹  blows on them.

Surely humanity ²⁰  is like grass.

40:8 The grass dries up,

the flowers wither,

but the decree of our God is forever reliable.” ²¹ 

James 4:13-16

4:13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into this or that town ²²  and spend a year there and do business and make a profit.” 4:14 You ²³  do not know about tomorrow. What is your life like? ²⁴  For you are a puff of smoke ²⁵  that appears for a short time and then vanishes. 4:15 You ought to say instead, ²⁶  “If the Lord is willing, then we will live and do this or that.” 4:16 But as it is, ²⁷  you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.

James 4:1

Passions and Pride

4:1 Where do the conflicts and where ²⁸  do the quarrels among you come from? Is it not from this, ²⁹  from your passions that battle inside you? ³⁰ 

James 1:24

1:24 For he gazes at himself and then goes out and immediately forgets ³¹  what sort of person he was.

[12:7]  ¹ tn Or “spirit.” The likely referent is the life’s breath that originates with God. See Eccl 3:19, as well as Gen 2:7; 6:17; 7:22.

[12:8]  ² tn Heb “futility of futilities.” The phrase “absolutely futile” (הֲבֶל הֲבָלִים, havel havalim) is a superlative genitive construction (GKC 431 §133.i). See note on “futile” at 1:2.

[12:8]  ³ tn Elsewhere in the book, the author is identified with the anarthrous term קֹהֶלֶת (qohelet, Eccl 1:1, 2, 12; 7:27; 12:9, 10); however, in 12:8 it is used with the article, indicating that it is a professional title rather than a personal surname: הַקּוֹהֶלֶת (haqqohelet, “the Teacher”). Numerous English translations render קֹהֶלֶת as a professional title: “the Speaker” (NEB, Moffatt); “the Preacher” (KJV, RSV, YLT, MLB, ASV, NASB); “the Teacher” (NIV, NRSV); “the Leader of the Assembly” (NIV margin); “the Assembler” (NJPS margin). Others render it as a personal surname: “Koheleth” (JPS, NJPS) and “Qoheleth” (NAB, NRSV margin).

[12:8]  ⁴ tn Heb “Everything.” The term is rendered “all of these things” for clarity. Although כֹּל (kol, “everything; all”) is often used in an absolute or comprehensive sense (BDB 481 s.v. כֹּל 1), it is frequently used as a synecdoche of the general for the specific, that is, its sense is limited contextually to the topic at hand (BDB 482 s.v. 2). This is particularly true of הַכֹּל (hakkol, BDB 482 s.v. 2.b) in which the article particularizes or limits the referent to the contextual or previously mentioned topic (e.g., Gen 16:12; 24:1; Exod 29:24; Lev 1:9, 13; 8:27; Deut 2:36; Josh 11:19 [see 2 Sam 19:31; 1 Kgs 14:26 = 2 Chr 12:9]; 21:43; 1 Sam 30:19; 2 Sam 17:3; 23:5; 24:23; 1 Kgs 6:18; 2 Kgs 24:16; Isa 29:11; 65:8; Jer 13:7, 10; Ezek 7:14; Pss 14:3; 49:18; 1 Chr 7:5; 28:19; 29:19; 2 Chr 28:6; 29:28; 31:5; 35:7; 36:17-18; Ezra 1:11; 2:42; 8:34-35; 10:17; Eccl 5:8). Thus, “all” does not always mean “all” absolutely or universally in comprehension. In several cases the context limits its reference to two classes of objects/issues being discussed, so הַכֹּל means “both” (e.g., 2:14; 3:19: 9:1, 2). Thus, הַכֹּל (“all; everything”) refers only to what Qoheleth characterizes as “futile” (הֶבֶל, hevel) in the context. This does not mean that everything is futile. For example, fearing God is not “futile” (2:26; 3:14-15; 11:9-10; 12:1, 9, 13-14). Only those objects/issues that are contextually placed under כֹּל are designated as “futile” (הֶבֶל).

[12:8]  ⁵ tn The term הֶבֶל (hevel, “futile”) is repeated three times within the six words of this verse for emphasis. See footnote on “futile” at 1:2.

[12:13]  ⁶ tn Heb “The end of the matter, everything having been heard.”

[12:13]  ⁷ tn Heb “This is all men”; or “This is the whole of man.” The phrase זֶה כָּל־הָאָדָם (zeh kol-ha’adam, “this is all men”) features rhetorical elision of a key word. The ambiguity over the elided word has led to no less than five basic approaches: (1) “this is the whole duty of man” (KJV, ASV, RSV, NAB, NIV); (2) “this is the duty of all men” (MLB, ASV margin, RSV margin); (3) “this applies to all men” (NASB, NJPS); (4) “this is the whole duty of all men” (NRSV, Moffatt); and (5) “there is no more to man than this” (NEB). The four-fold repetition of כֹּל (kol, “all”) in 12:13-14 suggests that Qoheleth is emphasizing the “bottom line,” that is, the basic duty of man is simply to fear and obey God: After “all” (כֹּל) has been heard in the book, his conclusion is that the “whole” (כֹּל) duty of man is to obey God because God will bring “all” (כֹּל) acts into judgment, including “all” (כֹּל) that is hidden, whether good or bad. See D. Barthélemy, ed., Preliminary and Interim Report on the Hebrew Old Testament Text Project, 3:596.

[12:14]  ⁸ tn Heb “will bring every deed into judgment.”

[24:2]  ⁹ tn Heb “and it will be like the people, like the priest.”

[24:2]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “like the servant, like his master.”

[24:2]  ¹¹ tn Heb “like the female servant, like her mistress.”

[24:2]  ¹² tn Heb “like the buyer, like the seller.”

[24:2]  ¹³ tn Heb “like the lender, like the borrower.”

[24:2]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “like the creditor, just as the one to whom he lends.”

[40:6]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “and he says.” Apparently a second “voice” responds to the command of the first “voice.”

[40:6]  ¹⁶ tn The words “the first voice responds” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The first voice tells the second one what to declare.

[40:6]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “all flesh is grass.” The point of the metaphor is explained in v. 7.

[40:6]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and all his loyalty.” The antecedent of the third masculine suffix is בָּשָׂר (basar, “flesh”), which refers collectively to mankind. The LXX, apparently understanding the antecedent as “grass,” reads “glory,” but חֶסֶד (khesed) rarely, if ever, has this nuance. The normal meaning of חֶסֶד (“faithfulness, loyalty, devotion”) fits very well in the argument. Human beings and their faithfulness (verbal expressions of faithfulness are specifically in view; cf. NRSV “constancy”) are short-lived and unreliable, in stark contrast to the decrees and promises of the eternal God.

[40:7]  ¹⁹ tn The Hebrew text has רוּחַ יְהוָה (ruakh yehvah), which in this context probably does not refer to the Lord’s personal Spirit. The phrase is better translated “the breath of the Lord,” or “the wind of [i.e., sent by] the Lord.” The Lord’s sovereign control over nature, including the hot desert winds that dry up vegetation, is in view here (cf. Ps 147:18; Isa 59:19).

[40:7]  ²⁰ tn Heb “the people” (so KJV, ASV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[40:8]  ²¹ tn Heb “but the word of our God stands forever.” In this context the divine “word” specifically refers to his decreed promise assuring Jerusalem that her suffering is over and his glorious return imminent (vv. 1-5).

[4:13]  ²² tn Or “city.”

[4:14]  ²³ tn Grk “who” (continuing the description of the people of v. 13). Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[4:14]  ²⁴ tn Or “you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow.”

[4:14]  ²⁵ tn Or “a vapor.” The Greek word ἀτμίς (atmis) denotes a swirl of smoke arising from a fire (cf. Gen 19:28; Lev 16:13; Joel 2:30 [Acts 2:19]; Ezek 8:11).

[4:15]  ²⁶ tn Grk “instead of your saying.”

[4:16]  ²⁷ tn Grk “but now.”

[4:1]  ²⁸ tn The word “where” is repeated in Greek for emphasis.

[4:1]  ²⁹ tn Grk “from here.”

[4:1]  ³⁰ tn Grk “in your members [i.e., parts of the body].”

[1:24]  ³¹ tn Grk “and he has gone out and immediately has forgotten.”