Ecclesiastes 2:13

2:13 I realized that wisdom is preferable to folly, ¹ 

just as light is preferable to darkness:

Ecclesiastes 2:20

2:20 So I began to despair ²  about all the fruit of ³  my labor ⁴ 

for which I worked so hard ⁵  on earth. ⁶ 

Ecclesiastes 4:2

4:2 So I considered ⁷  those who are dead and gone ⁸ 

more fortunate than those who are still alive. ⁹ 

Ecclesiastes 9:16

9:16 So I concluded that wisdom is better than might, ¹⁰ 

but a poor man’s wisdom is despised; no one ever listens ¹¹  to his advice. ¹² 

[2:13]  ¹ tn Heb “and I saw that there is profit for wisdom more than folly.”

[2:20]  ² tn Heb “I turned aside to allow my heart despair.” 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.

[2:20]  ³ tn The phrase “the fruit of” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity (see the following note on the word “labor”).

[2:20]  ⁴ tn Heb “all my toil.” As in 2:18-19, the term עֲמָלִי (’amali, “my labor”) is a metonymy of cause (i.e., my labor) for effect (i.e., the fruit of my labor). The metonymy is recognized by several translations: “all the fruits of my labor” (NAB); “all the fruit of my labor” (NASB); “all the gains I had made” (NJPS).

[2:20]  ⁵ tn Here the author uses an internal cognate accusative construction (accusative noun and verb from the same root) for emphasis: שֶׁעָמַלְתִּי הֶעָמָל (he’amal she’amalti, “the toil for which I had toiled”); see IBHS 167 §10.2.1g.

[2:20]  ⁶ tn Heb “under the sun.”

[4:2]  ³ tn The verb שָׁבַח (shavakh) has a two-fold range of meaning: (1) “to praise; to laud”; and (2) “to congratulate” (HALOT 1387 s.v. I שׁבח; BDB 986 s.v. II שָׁבַח). The LXX translated it as ἐπῄνεσα (ephnesa, “I praised”). The English versions reflect the range of possible meanings: “praised” (KJV, ASV, Douay); “congratulated” (MLB, NASB); “declared/judged/accounted/thought…fortunate/happy” (NJPS, NEB, NIV, RSV, NRSV, NAB).

[4:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “the dead who had already died.”

[4:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “the living who are alive.”

[9:16]  ⁴ tn Or “power.”

[9:16]  ⁵ tn The participle form נִשְׁמָעִים (nishma’im, Niphal participle mpl from שָׁמַע, “to listen”) is used verbally to emphasize a continual, durative, gnomic action.

[9:16]  ⁶ tn Heb “his words are never listened to.”