Ecclesiastes 2:10
Context2:10 I did not restrain myself from getting whatever I wanted; 1
I did not deny myself anything that would bring me pleasure. 2
So all my accomplishments gave me joy; 3
this was my reward for all my effort. 4
Ecclesiastes 6:3
Context6:3 Even if a man fathers a hundred children and lives many years –
even if he lives a long, long time, 5 but cannot enjoy his prosperity –
even if he were to live forever 6 –
I would say, “A stillborn child 7 is better off than he is!” 8


[2:10] 1 tn Heb “all which my eyes asked for, I did not withhold from them.”
[2:10] 2 tn Heb “I did not refuse my heart any pleasure.” The term לִבִּי (libbi, “my heart”) is a synecdoche of part (i.e., heart) for the whole (i.e., whole person); see E. W. Bullinger, Figures of Speech, 648. The term is repeated twice in 2:10 for emphasis.
[2:10] 3 tn Heb “So my heart was joyful from all my toil.”
[2:10] 4 tn Heb “and this was my portion from all my toil.”
[6:3] 5 tn Heb “the days of his years are many.”
[6:3] 6 tn Heb “he has no burial.” The phrase וְגַם־קְבוּרָה לֹא־הָיְתָה (vÿgam-qÿvurah lo’-haytah, “he even has no burial”) is traditionally treated as part of a description of the man’s sorry final state, that is, he is deprived of even a proper burial (KJV, NEB, RSV, NRSV, ASV, NASB, NIV, NJPS, MLB, Moffatt). However, the preceding parallel lines suggest that this a hyperbolic protasis: “If he were to live one hundred years…even if he were never buried [i.e., were to live forever]….” A similar idea occurs elsewhere (e.g., Pss 49:9; 89:48). See D. R. Glenn, “Ecclesiastes,” BKCOT, 990.
[6:3] 7 tn The noun נֶפֶל (nefel) denotes “miscarriage” and by metonymy of effect, “stillborn child” (e.g., Ps 58:9; Job 3:16; Eccl 6:3); cf. HALOT 711. The noun is related to the verb נָפַל (nafal, “to fall,” but occasionally “to be born”; see Isa 26:18); cf. HALOT 710 s.v. נפל 5.
[6:3] 8 sn The point of 6:3-6 is that the futility of unenjoyed wealth is worse than the tragedy of being stillborn.