Ecclesiastes 4:4

Labor Motivated by Envy

4:4 Then I considered ¹  all the skillful work ²  that is done:

Surely it is nothing more than ³  competition ⁴  between one person and another. ⁵ 

This also is profitless – like ⁶  chasing the wind.

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, ⁷  but cannot enjoy his prosperity –

even if he were to live forever ⁸  –

I would say, “A stillborn child ⁹  is better off than he is!” ¹⁰ 

[4:4]  ¹ tn Heb “saw.”

[4:4]  ² tn Heb “all the toil and all the skill.” This Hebrew clause (אֶת־כָּל־עָמָל וְאֵת כָּל־כִּשְׁרוֹן, ’et-kol-’amal vÿ’et kol-kishron) is a nominal hendiadys (a figurative expression in which two independent phrases are used to connote the same thing). The second functions adverbially, modifying the first, which retains its full nominal function: “all the skillful work.”

[4:4]  ³ tn The phrase “nothing more than” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity.

[4:4]  ⁴ tn The noun קִנְאַה (qin’ah, “competition”) has a wide range of meanings: “zeal; jealousy; envy; rivalry; competition; suffering; animosity; anger; wrath” (HALOT 1110 s.v.; BDB 888 s.v.). Here, as in 9:6, it denotes “rivalry” (BDB 888 s.v. 1) or “competitive spirit” (HALOT 1110 s.v. 1.b). The LXX rendered it ζῆλος (zhlos, “envy; jealousy”). The English versions reflect this broad range: “rivalry” (NEB, NAB, NASB), “envy” (KJV, ASV, RSV, NRSV, MLB, NIV, NJPS), and “jealousy” (Moffatt).

[4:4]  ⁵ tn Heb “a man and his neighbor.”

[4:4]  ⁶ tn The word “like” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity.

[6:3]  ⁷ tn Heb “the days of his years are many.”

[6:3]  ⁸ 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]  ⁹ 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]  ¹⁰ sn The point of 6:3-6 is that the futility of unenjoyed wealth is worse than the tragedy of being stillborn.