Ecclesiastes 6:10

The Futile Way Life Works

6:10 Whatever has happened was foreordained, ¹ 

and what happens to a person ²  was also foreknown.

It is useless for him to argue with God about his fate

because God is more powerful than he is. ³ 

Ecclesiastes 5:19

5:19 To every man whom God has given wealth, and possessions,

he has also given him the ability ⁴ 

to eat from them, to receive his reward and to find enjoyment in his toil;

these things ⁵  are the gift of God.

Ecclesiastes 6:2-3

6:2 God gives a man riches, property, and wealth

so that he lacks nothing that his heart ⁶  desires, ⁷ 

yet God does not enable ⁸  him to enjoy ⁹  the fruit of his labor ¹⁰  –

instead, someone else ¹¹  enjoys ¹²  it! ¹³ 

This is fruitless and a grave misfortune. ¹⁴ 

6:3 Even if a man fathers a hundred children and lives many years –

even if he lives a long, long time, ¹⁵  but cannot enjoy his prosperity –

even if he were to live forever ¹⁶  –

I would say, “A stillborn child ¹⁷  is better off than he is!” ¹⁸ 

[6:10]  ¹ tn Heb “already its name was called.”

[6:10]  ² tn Or “and what a person (Heb “man”) is was foreknown.”

[6:10]  ³ tn Heb “he cannot contend with the one who is more powerful than him.” The referent of the “the one who is more powerful than he is” (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity. The words “with God about his fate” have been added for clarity as well.

[5:19]  ⁴ tn The syntax of this verse is difficult. The best approach is to view הִשְׁלִיטוֹ (hishlito, “he has given him the ability”) as governing the three following infinitives: לֶאֱכֹל (le’ekhol, “to eat”), וְלָשֵׂאת (vÿlase’t, “and to lift” = “to accept [or receive]”), and וְלִשְׂמֹחַ (vÿlismoakh, “and to rejoice”). This statement parallels 2:24-26 which states that no one can find enjoyment in life unless God gives him the ability to do so.

[5:19]  ⁵ tn Heb “this.” The feminine singular demonstrative pronoun זֹה (zoh, “this”) refers back to all that preceded it in the verse (e.g., GKC 440-41 §135.p), that is, the ability to enjoy the fruit of one’s labor is the gift of God (e.g., Eccl 2:24-26). The phrase “these things” is used in the translation for clarity.

[6:2]  ⁷ tn Heb “his appetite.”

[6:2]  ⁸ tn Heb “There is no lack in respect to his appetite”; or “his desire lacks nothing.”

[6:2]  ⁹ tn The verb שָׁלַט (shalat) in the Qal stem means “to domineer; to dominate; to lord it over; to be master of” and in the Hiphil stem “to give power to” (BDB 1020 s.v. שָׁלַט) and “to grant” (HALOT 1522 s.v. שׁלט). God must grant a person the ability to enjoy the fruit of his labor, otherwise a person will not be able to enjoy his possessions and wealth. The ability to partake of the fruit of one’s labor and to find satisfaction and joy in it is a gift from God (e.g., Eccl 2:24-26; 3:13; 5:18 [19]; 9:7).

[6:2]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “to eat of it.” The verb אָכַל (’akhal, “to eat”) functions as a metonymy of association, that is, the action of eating is associated with the enjoyment of the fruit of one’s labor (e.g., Eccl 2:24-26; 3:12-13, 22; 5:17-19; 8:15; 9:9).

[6:2]  ¹¹ tn The phrase “the fruit of his labor” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity.

[6:2]  ¹² tn Heb “a stranger.” The Hebrew expression אִיש נָכְרִי (’ish nokhri, “stranger”) sometimes refers not to a foreigner or someone that the person does not know, but simply to someone else other than the subject (e.g., Prov 27:2). In the light of 6:3-6, it might even refer to the man’s own heirs. The term is used as a synecdoche of species (foreigner for stranger) in the sense of someone else other than the subject: “someone else” (BDB 649 s.v. נָכְרִי 3).

[6:2]  ¹³ tn Heb “eats.”

[6:2]  ¹⁴ sn Instead, someone else enjoys it. A person may be unable to enjoy the fruit of his/her labor due to an unfortunate turn of events that robs a person of his possessions (5:13-14) or a miserly, lifelong hoarding of one’s wealth that robs him of the ability to enjoy what he has worked so hard to acquire (5:15-17). Qoheleth recommends the enjoyment of life and the fruit of one’s labor, as God enables (5:18-20). Unfortunately, the ability to enjoy the fruits of one’s labor is often thwarted by the obstacles described in 6:1-2 and 6:3-9.

[6:2]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “an evil sickness.”

[6:3]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “the days of his years are many.”

[6:3]  ¹¹ 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]  ¹² 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]  ¹³ sn The point of 6:3-6 is that the futility of unenjoyed wealth is worse than the tragedy of being stillborn.