Discovery BoxEcclesiastes 2:17
Context2:17 So I loathed 1 life 2 because what
happens 3 on earth 4 seems awful to me;
for all the benefits of wisdom 5 are futile – like chasing the wind.
Ecclesiastes 9:4-6
Context9:4 But whoever is among 6 the living 7 has hope;
a live dog is better than a dead lion.
9:5 For the living know that they will die, but the dead do not know anything;
they have no further reward – and even the memory of them disappears. 8
9:6 What they loved, 9 as well as what they hated 10 and envied, 11 perished long ago,
and they no longer have a part in anything that happens on earth. 12
Job 3:17-21
Context3:17 There 13 the wicked 14 cease 15 from turmoil, 16
and there the weary 17 are at rest.
3:18 There 18 the prisoners 19 relax 20 together; 21
they do not hear the voice of the oppressor. 22
3:19 Small and great are 23 there,
and the slave is free 24 from his master. 25
3:20 “Why does God 27 give 28 light to one who is in misery, 29
and life to those 30 whose soul is bitter,
3:21 to 31 those who wait 32 for death that 33 does not come,
and search for it 34
more than for hidden treasures,
[2:17] 2 tn The term הַחַיִּים (hakhayyim, “life”) functions as a metonymy of association, that is, that which is associated with life, that is, the profitlessness and futility of human secular achievement.
[2:17] 3 tn Heb “the deed that is done.” The root עָשָׂה (’asah, “to do”) is repeated in הַמַּעֲשֶׂה שֶׁנַּעֲשָׂה (hamma’aseh shenna’asah, “the deed that is done”) for emphasis. Here, the term “deed” does not refer to human accomplishment, as in 2:1-11, but to the fact of death that destroys any relative advantage of wisdom over folly (2:14a-16). Qoheleth metaphorically describes death as a “deed” that is “done” to man.
[2:17] 4 tn Heb “under the sun.”
[2:17] 5 tn Heb “all,” referring here to the relative advantage of wisdom.
[9:4] 6 tn The consonantal text (Kethib) has “is chosen, selected.” The translation follows the marginal reading (Qere), “is joined.” See BDB 288 s.v. חָבַר Pu.
[9:4] 7 tn Heb “all the living.”
[9:5] 8 tn Heb “for their memory is forgotten.” The pronominal suffix is an objective genitive, “memory of them.”
[9:6] 10 tn Heb “their hatred.”
[9:6] 12 tn Heb “under the sun.”
[3:17] 13 sn The reference seems to be death, or Sheol, the place where the infant who is stillborn is either buried (the grave) or resides (the place of departed spirits) and thus does not see the light of the sun.
[3:17] 14 sn The wicked are the ungodly, those who are not members of the covenant (normally) and in this context especially those who oppress and torment other people.
[3:17] 15 tn The parallelism uses the perfect verb in the first parallel part, and the imperfect opposite it in the second. Since the verse projects to the grave or Sheol (“there”) where the action is perceived as still continuing or just taking place, both receive an English present tense translation (GKC 312 §106.l).
[3:17] 16 tn Here the noun רֹגז (rogez) refers to the agitation of living as opposed to the peaceful rest of dying. The associated verb רָגַז (ragaz) means “to be agitated, excited.” The expression indicates that they cease from troubling, meaning all the agitation of their own lives.
[3:17] 17 tn The word יָגִיעַ (yagia’) means “exhausted, wearied”; it is clarified as a physical exhaustion by the genitive of specification (“with regard to their strength”).
[3:18] 18 tn “There” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied from the context.
[3:18] 19 tn The LXX omits the verb and translates the noun not as prisoners but as “old men” or “men of old time.”
[3:18] 20 tn The verb שַׁאֲנָנוּ (sha’ananu) is the Pilpel of שָׁאַן (sha’an) which means “to rest.” It refers to the normal rest or refreshment of individuals; here it is contrasted with the harsh treatment normally put on prisoners.
[3:18] 21 sn See further J. C. de Moor, “Lexical Remarks Concerning yahad and yahdaw,” VT 7 (1957): 350-55.
[3:18] 22 tn Or “taskmaster.” The same Hebrew word is used for the taskmasters in Exod 3:7.
[3:19] 23 tn The versions have taken the pronoun in the sense of the verb “to be.” Others give it the sense of “the same thing,” rendering the verse as “small and great, there is no difference there.” GKC 437 §135.a, n. 1, follows this idea with a meaning of “the same.”
[3:19] 24 tn The LXX renders this as “unafraid,” although the negative has disappeared in some
[3:19] 25 tn The plural “masters” could be taken here as a plural of majesty rather than as referring to numerous masters.
[3:20] 26 sn Since he has survived birth, Job wonders why he could not have died a premature death. He wonders why God gives light and life to those who are in misery. His own condition throws gloom over life, and so he poses the question first generally, for many would prefer death to misery (20-22); then he comes to the individual, himself, who would prefer death (23). He closes his initial complaint with some depictions of his suffering that afflicts him and gives him no rest (24-26).
[3:20] 27 tn Heb “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[3:20] 28 tn The verb is the simple imperfect, expressing the progressive imperfect nuance. But there is no formal subject to the verb, prompting some translations to make it passive in view of the indefinite subject (so, e.g., NAB, NIV, NRSV). Such a passive could be taken as a so-called “divine passive” by which God is the implied agent. Job clearly means God here, but he stops short of naming him (see also the note on “God” earlier in this verse).
[3:20] 29 sn In v. 10 the word was used to describe the labor and sorrow that comes from it; here the one in such misery is called the עָמֵל (’amel, “laborer, sufferer”).
[3:20] 30 tn The second colon now refers to people in general because of the plural construct מָרֵי נָפֶשׁ (mare nafesh, “those bitter of soul/life”). One may recall the use of מָרָה (marah, “bitter”) by Naomi to describe her pained experience as a poor widow in Ruth 1:20, or the use of the word to describe the bitter oppression inflicted on Israel by the Egyptians (Exod 1:14). Those who are “bitter of soul” are those whose life is overwhelmed with painful experiences and suffering.
[3:21] 31 tn The verse simply begins with the participle in apposition to the expressions in the previous verse describing those who are bitter. The preposition is added from the context.
[3:21] 32 tn The verb is the Piel participle of חָכָה (khakhah, “to wait for” someone; Yahweh is the object in Isa 8:17; 64:3; Ps 33:20). Here death is the supreme hope of the miserable and the suffering.
[3:21] 33 tn The verse simply has the form אֵין (’en, “there is not”) with a pronominal suffix and a conjunction – “and there is not it” or “and it is not.” The LXX and the Vulgate add a verb to explain this form: “and obtain it not.”
[3:21] 34 tn The parallel verb is now a preterite with a vav (ו) consecutive; it therefore has the nuance of a characteristic perfect or gnomic perfect – the English present tense.
(NT only) to listen to the NET Bible 
