Ecclesiastes 2:22

Painful Days and Restless Nights

2:22 What does a man acquire from all his labor

and from the anxiety that accompanies his toil on earth? ¹ 

Ecclesiastes 3:9

Man is Ignorant of God’s Timing

3:9 What benefit can a worker ²  gain from his toil? ³ 

Ecclesiastes 5:16

5:16 This is another misfortune: ⁴ 

Just as he came, so will he go.

What did he gain from toiling for the wind?

Proverbs 23:4-5

23:4 Do not wear yourself out to become rich;

be wise enough to restrain yourself. ⁵ 

23:5 When you gaze upon riches, ⁶  they are gone,

for they surely make wings for themselves,

and fly off into the sky like an eagle! ⁷ 

Isaiah 55:2

55:2 Why pay money for something that will not nourish you? ⁸ 

Why spend ⁹  your hard-earned money ¹⁰  on something that will not satisfy?

Listen carefully ¹¹  to me and eat what is nourishing! ¹² 

Enjoy fine food! ¹³ 

Habakkuk 2:13

2:13 Be sure of this! The Lord who commands armies has decreed:

The nations’ efforts will go up in smoke;

their exhausting work will be for nothing. ¹⁴ 

Habakkuk 2:18

2:18 What good ¹⁵  is an idol? Why would a craftsman make it? ¹⁶ 

What good is a metal image that gives misleading oracles? ¹⁷ 

Why would its creator place his trust in it ¹⁸ 

and make ¹⁹  such mute, worthless things?

Matthew 16:26

16:26 For what does it benefit a person ²⁰  if he gains the whole world but forfeits his life? Or what can a person give in exchange for his life?

Mark 8:36-37

8:36 For what benefit is it for a person ²¹  to gain the whole world, yet ²²  forfeit his life? 8:37 What can a person give in exchange for his life?

John 6:27

6:27 Do not work for the food that disappears, ²³  but for the food that remains to eternal life – the food ²⁴  which the Son of Man will give to you. For God the Father has put his seal of approval on him.” ²⁵ 

[2:22]  ¹ tn Heb “under the sun.” The rhetorical question is an example of negative affirmation, expecting a negative answer: “Man acquires nothing” (see E. W. Bullinger, Figures of Speech, 949-51).

[3:9]  ² tn The term הָעוֹשֶׂה (ha’oseh, article + Qal active participle ms from עָשַׂה, ’asah, “to do”) functions substantively (“the worker”); see BDB 794 s.v. עָשַׂה II.1. This is a figurative description of man (metonymy of association), and plays on the repetition of עָשַׂה (verb: “to do,” noun: “work”) throughout the passage. In the light of God’s orchestration of human affairs, man’s efforts cannot change anything. It refers to man in general with the article functioning in a generic sense (see IBHS 244-45 §13.5.1f; Joüon 2:511 §137.m).

[3:9]  ³ sn This rhetorical question is an example of negative affirmation, expecting a negative answer: “Man gains nothing from his toil!” (see E. W. Bullinger, Figures of Speech, 949-51). Any advantage that man might gain from his toil is nullified by his ignorance of divine providence.

[5:16]  ⁴ tn See the note on the phrase “depressing misfortune” in v. 13.

[23:4]  ⁵ tn Heb “from your understanding cease.” In the context this means that the person should have enough understanding to stop wearing himself out trying to be rich (cf. NRSV “be wise enough to desist”).

[23:5]  ⁶ tc The Kethib is הֲתָעוּף (hata’uf), “do your eyes fly [light] on it?” The Qere is the Hiphil, הֲתָעִיף (hata’if) “do you cause your eyes to fly on it?” But the line is difficult. The question may be indirect: If you cast your eyes on it, it is gone – when you think you are close, it slips away.

[23:5]  ⁷ sn This seventh saying warns people not to expend all their energy trying to get rich because riches are fleeting (cf. Instruction of Amememope, chap. 7, 9:10-11 which says, “they have made themselves wings like geese and have flown away to heaven”). In the ancient world the symbol of birds flying away signified fleeting wealth.

[55:2]  ⁸ tn Heb “for what is not food.”

[55:2]  ⁹ tn The interrogative particle and the verb “spend” are understood here by ellipsis (note the preceding line).

[55:2]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “your labor,” which stands by metonymy for that which one earns.

[55:2]  ¹¹ tn The infinitive absolute follows the imperative and lends emphasis to the exhortation.

[55:2]  ¹² tn Heb “good” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[55:2]  ¹³ tn Heb “Let your appetite delight in fine food.”

[2:13]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “Is it not, look, from the Lord of hosts that the nations work hard for fire, and the peoples are exhausted for nothing?”

[2:18]  ¹⁵ tn Or “of what value.”

[2:18]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “so that the one who forms it fashions it?” Here כִּי (ki) is taken as resultative after the rhetorical question. For other examples of this use, see R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 73, §450.

[2:18]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “or a metal image, a teacher of lies.” The words “What good is” in the translation are supplied from the previous parallel line. “Teacher of lies” refers to the false oracles that the so-called god would deliver through a priest. See J. J. M. Roberts, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah (OTL), 126.

[2:18]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “so that the one who forms his image trusts in it?” As earlier in the verse, כִּי (ki) is resultative.

[2:18]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “to make.”

[16:26]  ²⁰ tn Grk “a man,” but ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo") is used in a generic sense here to refer to both men and women.

[8:36]  ²¹ tn Grk “a man,” but ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo") is used in a generic sense here to refer to both men and women.

[8:36]  ²² tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “yet” to indicate the contrast present in this context.

[6:27]  ²³ tn Or “perishes” (this might refer to spoiling, but is more focused on the temporary nature of this kind of food).

[6:27]  ²⁴ tn The referent (the food) has been specified for clarity by repeating the word “food” from the previous clause.

[6:27]  ²⁵ tn Grk “on this one.”