Ecclesiastes 2:10

2:10 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

6:3 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.