Ecclesiastes 1:7

1:7 All the streams flow ¹  into the sea, but the sea is not full,

and to the place where the streams flow, there they will flow again. ² 

Ecclesiastes 3:17

3:17 I thought to myself, “God will judge both the righteous and the wicked;

for there is an appropriate time for every activity,

and there is a time of judgment ³  for every deed.

Ecclesiastes 11:3

11:3 If the clouds are full of rain, they will empty themselves on the earth,

and whether a tree falls to the south or to the north, the tree will lie wherever it falls.

[1:7]  ¹ tn Heb “are going” or “are walking.” The term הֹלְכִים (holÿkhim, Qal active participle masculine plural from הָלַךְ, halakh,“to walk”) emphasizes continual, durative, uninterrupted action (present universal use of participle). This may be an example of personification; this verb is normally used in reference to the human activity of walking. Qoheleth compares the flowing of river waters to the action of walking to draw out the comparison between the actions of man (1:4) and the actions of nature (1:5-11).

[1:7]  ² tn Heb “there they are returning to go.” The term שָׁבִים (shavim, Qal active participle masculine plural from שׁוּב, shuv, “to return”) emphasizes the continual, durative action of the waters. The root שׁוּב is repeated in 1:6-7 to emphasize that everything in nature (e.g., wind and water) continually repeats its actions. For all of the repetition of the cycles of nature, nothing changes; all the constant motion produces nothing new.

[3:17]  ³ tn The phrase “a time of judgment” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity.