Discovery BoxEcclesiastes 1:10
Context1:10 Is there anything about which someone can say, “Look at this! It is new!”? 1
It was already 2 done long ago, 3 before our time. 4
Ecclesiastes 2:12
Context2:12 Next, I decided to consider 5 wisdom, as well as foolish behavior and ideas. 6
For what more can the king’s successor do than what the king 7 has already done?
Ecclesiastes 6:10
Context6:10 Whatever has happened was foreordained, 8
and what happens to a person 9 was also foreknown.
It is useless for him to argue with God about his fate
because God is more powerful than he is. 10
Ecclesiastes 9:6-7
Context9:6 What they loved, 11 as well as what they hated 12 and envied, 13 perished long ago,
and they no longer have a part in anything that happens on earth. 14
9:7 Go, eat your food 15 with joy,
and drink your wine with a happy heart,
because God has already approved your works.
[1:10] 1 tn Alternately, “[Even when] there is something of which someone might claim…” The terms יֵשׁ דָּבָר שֶׁיֹּאמַר (yesh davar sheyyo’mar) may be an interrogative clause without an introductory interrogative particle (GKC 473 §150.a). In questions, יֵשׁ often implies doubt about the existence of something (BDB 441 s.v. יֵשׁ 2.b). The LXX rendered it as a question, as do most English versions: “Is there anything of which it can be said…?” (KJV, ASV, RSV, MLB, NEB, NASB, NIV, NRSV). On the other hand, יֵשׁ is used elsewhere in the Book of Ecclesiastes as a predication of existence (“There is…”) to assert the existence of something (2:13, 21; 4:8, 9; 5:13[12]; 6:1, 11; 7:15; 8:6, 14; 9:4; 10:5). HALOT 443 s.v. יֵשׁ 2 renders יֵשׁ דָּבָר as “There is something….” This view is taken by several translations: “Even the thing of which we say…” (NAB), “Men may say of something …” (Moffatt), and “Sometimes there is a phenomena of which they say…” (NJPS).
[1:10] 2 tn The perfect tense verb הָיָה (hayah) refers to a past perfect situation: It describes an action that is viewed as a remote past event from the perspective of the past. This past perfect situation is brought out by the temporal adverb כְּבָר (kÿvar, “already”; HALOT 459 s.v. I כְּבָר; BDB 460 s.v. I כְּבָר; cf. 1:10; 2:12, 16; 3:15; 4:2; 6:10; 9:6-7). The expression כְּבָר + הָיָה connotes a past perfect nuance: “it has already been” (Eccl 1:10; see BDB 460 s.v.).
[1:10] 3 sn This does not deny man’s creativity or inventiveness, only the ultimate newness of his accomplishments. For example, there is no essential difference between the first voyage to the moon and the discovery of America (different point of arrival, different vehicles of travel, but the same essential action and results).
[1:10] 4 tn Heb “in the ages long ago before us.”
[2:12] 5 tn Heb “and I turned to see.”
[2:12] 6 sn See 1:17 for the same expression. Throughout 2:1-11, Qoheleth evaluated the merits of merrymaking (2:1-3), accomplishing grand things (2:4-6), amassing great wealth (2:7-8), and secular acquisitions and accomplishments (2:9-10). Now, he reflects on the benefit in life in living wisely and not giving oneself over to frivolous self-indulgence.
[2:12] 7 tc The Hebrew text reads עָשׂוּהוּ (’asuhu, “they have done it”; Qal perfect 3rd person masculine plural from עָשַׂה [’asah] + 3rd person masculine singular suffix). However, many medieval Hebrew
[6:10] 9 tn Heb “already its name was called.”
[6:10] 10 tn Or “and what a person (Heb “man”) is was foreknown.”
[6:10] 11 tn Heb “he cannot contend with the one who is more powerful than him.” The referent of the “the one who is more powerful than he is” (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity. The words “with God about his fate” have been added for clarity as well.
[9:6] 14 tn Heb “their hatred.”
