Ecclesiastes 6:9

6:9 It is better to be content with ¹  what the eyes can see ² 

than for one’s heart always to crave more. ³ 

This continual longing ⁴  is futile – like ⁵  chasing the wind.

Ecclesiastes 11:9

Enjoy Life to the Fullest under the Fear of God

11:9 Rejoice, young man, while you are young, ⁶ 

and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth.

Follow the impulses ⁷  of your heart and the desires ⁸  of your eyes,

but know that God will judge your motives and actions. ⁹ 

Joshua 7:21-25

7:21 I saw among the goods we seized a nice robe from Babylon, ¹⁰  two hundred silver pieces, ¹¹  and a bar of gold weighing fifty shekels. I wanted them, so I took them. They are hidden in the ground right in the middle of my tent with the silver underneath.”

7:22 Joshua sent messengers who ran to the tent. The things were hidden right in his tent, with the silver underneath. ¹²  7:23 They took it all from the middle of the tent, brought it to Joshua and all the Israelites, and placed ¹³  it before the Lord. 7:24 Then Joshua and all Israel took Achan, son of Zerah, along with the silver, the robe, the bar of gold, his sons, daughters, ox, donkey, sheep, tent, and all that belonged to him and brought them up to the Valley of Disaster. ¹⁴  7:25 Joshua said, “Why have you brought disaster ¹⁵  on us? The Lord will bring disaster on you today!” All Israel stoned him to death. (They also stoned and burned the others.) ¹⁶ 

Proverbs 23:5

23:5 When you gaze upon riches, ¹⁷  they are gone,

for they surely make wings for themselves,

and fly off into the sky like an eagle! ¹⁸ 

Jeremiah 17:11

17:11 The person who gathers wealth by unjust means

is like the partridge that broods over eggs but does not hatch them. ¹⁹ 

Before his life is half over he will lose his ill-gotten gains. ²⁰ 

At the end of his life it will be clear he was a fool.” ²¹ 

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. ²² 

Habakkuk 2:1

2:1 I will stand at my watch post;

I will remain stationed on the city wall. ²³ 

I will keep watching, so I can see what he says to me

and can know ²⁴  how I should answer

when he counters my argument. ²⁵ 

Habakkuk 2:16

2:16 But you will become drunk ²⁶  with shame, not majesty. ²⁷ 

Now it is your turn to drink and expose your uncircumcised foreskin! ²⁸ 

The cup of wine in the Lord’s right hand ²⁹  is coming to you,

and disgrace will replace your majestic glory!

[6:9]  ¹ tn The phrase “to be content with” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity.

[6:9]  ² tn The expression מַרְאֵה עֵינַיִם (mar’eh ’enayim, “the seeing of the eyes”) is a metonymy of cause (i.e., seeing an object) for effect (i.e., being content with what the eyes can see); see E. W. Bullinger, Figures of Speech, 552-54.

[6:9]  ³ tn Heb “the roaming of the soul.” The expression מֵהֲלָךְ־נָפֶשׁ (mehalakh-nafesh, “the roaming of the soul”) is a metonymy for unfulfilled desires. The term “soul” (נֶפֶשׁ, nefesh) is used as a metonymy of association for man’s desires and appetites (BDB 660 s.v. נֶפֶשׁ 5.c; 6.a). This also involves the personification of the roving appetite as “roving” (מֵהֲלָךְ); see BDB 235 s.v. הָלַךְ II.3.f; 232 I.3.

[6:9]  ⁴ tn The phrase “continual longing” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity.

[6:9]  ⁵ tn The term “like” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity and smoothness.

[11:9]  ⁶ tn Heb “in your youth”; or “in your childhood.”

[11:9]  ⁷ tn Heb “walk in the ways of your heart.”

[11:9]  ⁸ tn Heb “the sight.”

[11:9]  ⁹ tn Heb “and know that concerning all these God will bring you into judgment.” The point is not that following one’s impulses and desires is inherently bad and will bring condemnation from God. Rather the point seems to be: As you follow your impulses and desires, realize that all you think and do will eventually be evaluated by God. So one must seek joy within the boundaries of God’s moral standards.

[7:21]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “Shinar,” a reference to Babylon (cf. Gen 10:10; 11:2; 14:1). Many modern translations retain the Hebrew name “Shinar” (cf. NEB, NRSV) but some use the more familiar “Babylon” (cf. NIV, NLT).

[7:21]  ¹¹ tn Heb “shekels.”

[7:22]  ¹² tn Heb “Look, [it was] hidden in his tent, and the silver was beneath it.”

[7:23]  ¹³ tn Heb “poured out,” probably referring to the way the silver pieces poured out of their container.

[7:24]  ¹⁴ tn Or “Trouble” The name is “Achor” in Hebrew, which means “disaster” or “trouble” (also in v. 26).

[7:25]  ¹⁵ tn Or “trouble.” The word is “achor” in Hebrew (also in the following clause).

[7:25]  ¹⁶ tc Heb “and they burned them with fire and they stoned them with stones.” These words are somewhat parenthetical in nature and are omitted in the LXX; they may represent a later scribal addition.

[23:5]  ¹⁷ 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]  ¹⁸ 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.

[17:11]  ¹⁹ tn The meaning of this line is somewhat uncertain. The word translated “broods over” occurs only here and Isa 34:15. It is often defined on the basis of an Aramaic cognate which means “to gather” with an extended meaning of “to gather together under her to hatch.” Many commentators go back to a Rabbinic explanation that the partridge steals the eggs of other birds and hatches them out only to see the birds depart when they recognize that she is not the mother. Modern studies question the validity of this zoologically. Moreover, W. L. Holladay contests the validity on the basis of the wording “and she does hatch them” (Heb “bring them to birth”). See W. L. Holladay, Jeremiah (Hermeneia), 1:498, and see also P. C. Craigie, P. H. Kelley, J. F. Drinkard, Jeremiah 1-25 (WBC), 229. The point of the comparison is that the rich gather their wealth but they do not get to see the fruits of it.

[17:11]  ²⁰ tn The Hebrew text merely says “it.” But the antecedent might be ambiguous in English so the reference to wealth gained by unjust means is here reiterated for clarity.

[17:11]  ²¹ tn Heb “he will be [= prove to be] a fool.”

[2:13]  ²² 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?”

[2:1]  ²³ sn Habakkuk compares himself to a watchman stationed on the city wall who keeps his eyes open for approaching messengers or danger.

[2:1]  ²⁴ tn The word “know” is supplied in the translation for clarification.

[2:1]  ²⁵ tn Heb “concerning my correction [or, “reproof”].”

[2:16]  ²⁶ tn Heb “are filled.” The translation assumes the verbal form is a perfect of certitude, emphasizing the certainty of Babylon’s coming judgment, which will reduce the majestic empire to shame and humiliation.

[2:16]  ²⁷ tn Or “glory.”

[2:16]  ²⁸ tc Heb “drink, even you, and show the foreskin.” Instead of הֵעָרֵל (he’arel, “show the foreskin”) one of the Dead Sea scrolls has הֵרָעֵל (hera’el, “stumble”). This reading also has support from several ancient versions and is followed by the NEB (“you too shall drink until you stagger”) and NRSV (“Drink, you yourself, and stagger”). For a defense of the Hebrew text, see P. D. Miller, Jr., Sin and Judgment in the Prophets, 63-64.

[2:16]  ²⁹ sn The Lord’s right hand represents his military power. He will force the Babylonians to experience the same humiliating defeat they inflicted on others.