Ecclesiastes 7:27

7:27 The Teacher says:

I discovered this while trying to discover the scheme of things, item by item.

Ecclesiastes 2:15

2:15 So I thought to myself, “The fate of the fool will happen even to me! ¹ 

Then what did I gain by becoming so excessively ²  wise?” ³ 

So I lamented to myself, ⁴ 

“The benefits of wisdom ⁵  are ultimately ⁶  meaningless!”

Ecclesiastes 3:16-17

The Problem of Injustice and Oppression

3:16 I saw something else on earth: ⁷ 

In the place of justice, there was wickedness,

and in the place of fairness, ⁸  there was wickedness.

3:17 I thought to myself, “God will judge both the righteous and the wicked;

for there is an appropriate time for every activity,

and there is a time of judgment ⁹  for every deed.

Ecclesiastes 9:1-2

Everyone Will Die

9:1 So I reflected on all this, ¹⁰  attempting to clear ¹¹  it all up.

I concluded that ¹²  the righteous and the wise, as well as their works, are in the hand of God;

whether a person will be loved or hated ¹³  –

no one knows what lies ahead. ¹⁴ 

9:2 Everyone shares the same fate ¹⁵  –

the righteous and the wicked,

the good and the bad, ¹⁶ 

the ceremonially clean and unclean,

those who offer sacrifices and those who do not.

What happens to the good person, also happens to the sinner; ¹⁷ 

what happens to those who make vows, also happens to those who are afraid to make vows.

Jeremiah 12:1-2

12:1 Lord, you have always been fair

whenever I have complained to you. ¹⁸ 

However, I would like to speak with you about the disposition of justice. ¹⁹ 

Why are wicked people successful? ²⁰ 

Why do all dishonest people have such easy lives?

12:2 You plant them like trees and they put down their roots. ²¹ 

They grow prosperous and are very fruitful. ²² 

They always talk about you,

but they really care nothing about you. ²³ 

Jeremiah 12:2

12:2 You plant them like trees and they put down their roots. ²⁴ 

They grow prosperous and are very fruitful. ²⁵ 

They always talk about you,

but they really care nothing about you. ²⁶ 

Jeremiah 2:3-9

2:3 Israel was set apart to the Lord; they were like the first fruits of a harvest to him. ²⁷  All who tried to devour them were punished; disaster came upon them,” says the Lord.’”

The Lord Reminds Them of the Unfaithfulness of Their Ancestors

2:4 Now listen to what the Lord has to say, you descendants ²⁸  of Jacob,

all you family groups from the nation ²⁹  of Israel.

2:5 This is what the Lord says:

“What fault could your ancestors ³⁰  have possibly found in me

that they strayed so far from me? ³¹ 

They paid allegiance to ³²  worthless idols, and so became worthless to me. ³³ 

2:6 They did not ask:

‘Where is the Lord who delivered us out of Egypt,

who brought us through the wilderness,

through a land of desert sands and rift valleys,

through a land of drought and deep darkness, ³⁴ 

through a land in which no one travels,

and where no one lives?’ ³⁵ 

2:7 I brought you ³⁶  into a fertile land

so you could enjoy ³⁷  its fruits and its rich bounty.

But when you entered my land, you defiled it; ³⁸ 

you made the land I call my own ³⁹  loathsome to me.

2:8 Your priests ⁴⁰  did not ask, ‘Where is the Lord?’ ⁴¹ 

Those responsible for teaching my law ⁴²  did not really know me. ⁴³ 

Your rulers rebelled against me.

Your prophets prophesied in the name of the god Baal. ⁴⁴ 

They all worshiped idols that could not help them. ⁴⁵ 

The Lord Charges Contemporary Israel with Spiritual Adultery

2:9 “So, once more I will state my case ⁴⁶  against you,” says the Lord.

“I will also state it against your children and grandchildren. ⁴⁷ 

Jeremiah 3:3-9

3:3 That is why the rains have been withheld,

and the spring rains have not come.

Yet in spite of this you are obstinate as a prostitute. ⁴⁸ 

You refuse to be ashamed of what you have done.

3:4 Even now you say to me, ‘You are my father! ⁴⁹ 

You have been my faithful companion ever since I was young.

3:5 You will not always be angry with me, will you?

You will not be mad at me forever, will you?’ ⁵⁰ 

That is what you say,

but you continually do all the evil that you can.” ⁵¹ 

3:6 When Josiah was king of Judah, the Lord said to me, “Jeremiah, you have no doubt seen what wayward Israel has done. ⁵²  You have seen how she went up to every high hill and under every green tree to give herself like a prostitute to other gods. ⁵³  3:7 Yet even after she had done all that, I thought that she might come back to me. ⁵⁴  But she did not. Her sister, unfaithful Judah, saw what she did. ⁵⁵  3:8 She also saw ⁵⁶  that I gave wayward Israel her divorce papers and sent her away because of her adulterous worship of other gods. ⁵⁷  Even after her unfaithful sister Judah had seen this, ⁵⁸  she still was not afraid, and she too went and gave herself like a prostitute to other gods. ⁵⁹  3:9 Because she took her prostitution so lightly, she defiled the land ⁶⁰  through her adulterous worship of gods made of wood and stone. ⁶¹ 

[2:15]  ¹ tn The emphatic use of the 1st person common singular personal pronoun אֲנִי (’ani, “me”) with the emphatic particle of association גַּם (gam, “even, as well as”; HALOT 195–96 s.v. גַּם) appears to emphasize the 1st person common singular suffix on יִקְרֵנִי (yiqreni) “it will befall [or “happen to”] me” (Qal imperfect 3rd person masculine singular + 1st person common singular suffix from קָרָה, qarah, “to befall; to happen to”); see GKC 438 §135.e. Qoheleth laments not that the fate of the wise man is the same as that of the fool, but that even he himself – the wisest man of all – would fare no better in the end than the most foolish.

[2:15]  ² tn The adjective יוֹתֵר (yoter) means “too much; excessive,” e.g., 7:16 “excessively righteous” (HALOT 404 s.v. יוֹתֵר 2; BDB 452 s.v. יוֹתֵר). It is derived from the root יֶתֶר (yeter, “what is left over”); see HALOT 452 s.v. I יֶתֶר. It is related to the verbal root יתר (Niphal “to be left over”; Hiphil “to have left over”); see HALOT 451–52 s.v. I יתר. The adjective is related to יִתְרוֹן (yitron, “advantage; profit”) which is a key-term in this section, creating a word-play: The wise man has a relative “advantage” (יִתְרוֹן) over the fool (2:13-14a); however, there is no ultimate advantage because both share the same fate, i.e., death (2:14b-15a). Thus, Qoheleth’s acquisition of tremendous wisdom (1:16; 2:9) was “excessive” because it exceeded its relative advantage over folly: it could not deliver him from the same fate as the fool. He had striven to obtain wisdom, yet it held no ultimate advantage.

[2:15]  ³ tn Heb “And why was I wise (to) excess?” The rhetorical question is an example of negative affirmation, expecting a negative answer: “I gained nothing!” (E. W. Bullinger, Figures of Speech, 949).

[2:15]  ⁴ tn Heb “So I said in my heart.”

[2:15]  ⁵ tn Heb “and also this,” referring to the relative advantage of wisdom over folly.

[2:15]  ⁶ tn The word “ultimately” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity.

[3:16]  ⁷ tn Heb “under the sun.”

[3:16]  ⁸ tn Or “righteousness.”

[3:17]  ⁹ tn The phrase “a time of judgment” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity.

[9:1]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “I laid all this to my heart.”

[9:1]  ¹¹ tn The term וְלָבוּר (velavur, conjunction + Qal infinitive construct from בּוּר, bur, “to make clear”) denotes “to examine; to make clear; to clear up; to explain” (HALOT 116 s.v. בור; BDB 101 s.v. בּוּר). The term is related to Arabic baraw “to examine” (G. R. Driver, “Supposed Arabisms in the Old Testament,” JBL 55 [1936]: 108). This verb is related to the Hebrew noun בֹּר (bor, “cleanness”) and adjective בַּר (bar, “clean”). The term is used in the OT only in Ecclesiastes (1:13; 2:3; 7:25; 9:1). This use of the infinitive has a connotative sense (“attempting to”), and functions in a complementary sense, relative to the main verb.

[9:1]  ¹² tn The words “I concluded that” do not appear in the Hebrew text, but are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[9:1]  ¹³ tn Heb “whether love or hatred.”

[9:1]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “man does not know anything before them.”

[9:2]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “all things just as to everyone, one fate.”

[9:2]  ¹⁶ tc The MT reads simply “the good,” but the Greek versions read “the good and the bad.” In contrast to the other four pairs in v. 2 (“the righteous and the wicked,” “those who sacrifice, and those who do not sacrifice,” “the good man…the sinner,” and “those who make vows…those who are afraid to make vows”), the MT has a triad in the second line: לַטּוֹב וְלַטָּהוֹר וְלַטָּמֵא (lattov vÿlattahor vÿlattame’, “the good, and the clean, and the unclean”). This reading in the Leningrad Codex (ca. a.d. 1008) – the basis of the BHS and BHK publications of the MT – is also supported by the Ben Asher text of the First Rabbinic Bible (“the Soncino Bible”) published in a.d. 1488-94. On the other hand, the Greek version in B (Aquila) has two pairs: τῷ ἀγαθῷ καὶ τῷ κακῷ, καὶ τῷ καθαρῷ καὶ τῷ ἀκαθάρτῳ (“the good and the bad, and the clean and the unclean”). Either Aquila inserted καὶ τῷ κακῷ (kai tw kakw, “and the bad”) to fill out a pair and to create six parallel pairs in v. 2, or Aquila reflects an early Hebrew textual tradition tradition of לַטּוֹב וְלַרָע (lattov vÿlara’, “the good and the bad”). Since Aquila is well known for his commitment to a literal – at times even a mechanically wooden – translation of the Hebrew, with no room for improvisation, it is more than likely that Aquila is reflecting an authentic Hebrew textual tradition. Aquila dates to a.d. 130, while the Leningrad Codex dates to a.d. 1008; therefore, the Vorlage of Aquila might have been the original Hebrew textual tradition, being much earlier than the MT of the Leningrad Codex. The alternate textual tradition of Aquila is also seen in the Syriac and Latin versions (but these are dependent upon the Greek = Aquila). On the other hand, the editors of BHK and BHS suggest that the presence of the anomalous לַטּוֹב was an addition to the Hebrew text, and should be deleted. They also suggest that the Greek pair τῷ ἀγαθῷ καὶ τῷ κακῷ (tw agaqw kai tw kakw, “the good and the bad”) does not reflect an alternate textual tradition, but that their Vorlage contained only לַטּוֹב: the Greek version intentionally added καὶ τῷ κακῷ (kai tw kakw, “and the bad”) to create a pair. The English versions are divided. Several follow the Greek: “the good and the bad, the clean and the unclean” (NEB, NAB, RSV, NRSV, NIV, Moffatt, NLT). Others follow the Hebrew: “the good and the clean and the unclean” (KJV, ASV, MLB, NJPS). None, however, delete “the good” (לַטּוֹב) as suggested by the BHK and BHS editors. If the shorter text were original, the addition of καὶ τῷ κακῷ would be intentional. If the longer text were original, the omission of וְלַרָע (“and the bad”) could have caused by unintentional homoioarcton (“similar beginning”) in the three-fold repetition of לט in וְלַרָע וְלַטָּהוֹר וְלַטָּמֵא לַטּוֹב (lattov vÿlara’ vÿlattahor vÿlattame’, “the good and the bad, the clean and the unclean”). The term וְלַרָע (“and the bad”) was accidentally omitted when a scribe skipped from the first occurrence of לט in לַטּוֹב to its second occurrence in the word וְלַטָּהוֹר (“the clean”).

[9:2]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “As is the good (man), so is the sinner.”

[12:1]  ¹⁸ tn Or “Lord, you are fair when I present my case before you.”

[12:1]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “judgments” or “matters of justice.” For the nuance of “complain to,” “fair,” “disposition of justice” assumed here, see BDB 936 s.v. רִיב Qal.4 (cf. Judg 21:22); BDB 843 s.v. צַדִּיק 1.d (cf. Ps 7:12; 11:7); BDB 1049 s.v. מִשְׁפָּט 1.f (cf. Isa 26:8; Ps 10:5; Ezek 7:27).

[12:1]  ²⁰ tn Heb “Why does the way [= course of life] of the wicked prosper?”

[12:2]  ²¹ tn Heb “You planted them and they took root.”

[12:2]  ²² tn Heb “they grow and produce fruit.” For the nuance “grow” for the verb which normally means “go, walk,” see BDB 232 s.v. חָלַךְ Qal.I.3 and compare Hos 14:7.

[12:2]  ²³ tn Heb “You are near in their mouths, but far from their kidneys.” The figure of substitution is being used here, “mouth” for “words” and “kidneys” for passions and affections. A contemporary equivalent might be, “your name is always on their lips, but their hearts are far from you.”

[12:2]  ²⁴ tn Heb “You planted them and they took root.”

[12:2]  ²⁵ tn Heb “they grow and produce fruit.” For the nuance “grow” for the verb which normally means “go, walk,” see BDB 232 s.v. חָלַךְ Qal.I.3 and compare Hos 14:7.

[12:2]  ²⁶ tn Heb “You are near in their mouths, but far from their kidneys.” The figure of substitution is being used here, “mouth” for “words” and “kidneys” for passions and affections. A contemporary equivalent might be, “your name is always on their lips, but their hearts are far from you.”

[2:3]  ²⁷ sn Heb “the first fruits of his harvest.” Many commentators see the figure here as having theological significance for the calling of the Gentiles. It is likely, however, that in this context the metaphor – here rendered as a simile – is intended to bring out the special relationship and inviolability that Israel had with God. As the first fruits were the special possession of the Lord, to be eaten only by the priests and off limits to the common people, so Israel was God’s special possession and was not to be “eaten” by the nations.

[2:4]  ²⁸ tn Heb “house.”

[2:4]  ²⁹ tn Heb “house.”

[2:5]  ³⁰ tn Heb “fathers.”

[2:5]  ³¹ tn Or “I did not wrong your ancestors in any way. Yet they went far astray from me.” Both translations are an attempt to render the rhetorical question which demands a negative answer.

[2:5]  ³² tn Heb “They went/followed after.” This idiom is found most often in Deuteronomy or covenant contexts. It refers to loyalty to God and to his covenant or his commandments (e.g., 1 Kgs 14:8; 2 Chr 34:31) with the metaphor of a path or way underlying it (e.g., Deut 11:28; 28:14). To “follow other gods” was to abandon this way and this loyalty (i.e., to “abandon” or “forget” God, Judg 2:12; Hos 2:13) and to follow the customs or religious traditions of the pagan nations (e.g., 2 Kgs 17:15). The classic text on “following” God or another god is 1 Kgs 18:18, 21 where Elijah taunts the people with “halting between two opinions” whether the Lord was the true God or Baal was. The idiom is often found followed by “to serve and to worship” or “they served and worshiped” such and such a god or entity (see, e.g., Jer 8:2; 11:10; 13:10; 16:11; 25:6; 35:15).

[2:5]  ³³ tn The words “to me” are not in the Hebrew text but are implicit from the context: Heb “they followed after the worthless thing/things and became worthless.” There is an obvious wordplay on the verb “became worthless” and the noun “worthless thing,” which is probably to be understood collectively and to refer to idols as it does in Jer 8:19; 10:8; 14:22; Jonah 2:8.

[2:6]  ³⁴ tn This word is erroneously rendered “shadow of death” in most older English versions; that translation is based on a faulty etymology. Contextual studies and comparative Semitic linguistics have demonstrated that the word is merely another word for darkness. It is confined to poetic texts and often carries connotations of danger and distress. It is associated in poetic texts with the darkness of a prison (Ps 107:10, 14), a mine (Job 28:3), and a ravine (Ps 23:4). Here it is associated with the darkness of the wasteland and ravines of the Sinai desert.

[2:6]  ³⁵ sn The context suggests that the question is related to a lament where the people turn to God in their troubles, asking him for help and reminding him of his past benefactions. See for example Isa 63:11-19 and Ps 44. It is an implicit prayer for his intervention, cf. 2 Kgs 2:14.

[2:7]  ³⁶ sn Note how contemporary Israel is again identified with her early ancestors. See the study note on 2:2.

[2:7]  ³⁷ tn Heb “eat.”

[2:7]  ³⁸ sn I.e., made it ceremonially unclean. See Lev 18:19-30; Num 35:34; Deut 21:23.

[2:7]  ³⁹ tn Heb “my inheritance.” Or “the land [i.e., inheritance] I gave you,” reading the pronoun as indicating source rather than possession. The parallelism and the common use in Jeremiah of the term to refer to the land or people as the Lord’s (e.g., 12:7, 8, 9; 16:18; 50:11) make the possessive use more likely here.

[2:8]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “The priests…the ones who grasp my law…the shepherds…the prophets…they…”

[2:8]  ⁴¹ sn See the study note on 2:6.

[2:8]  ⁴² tn Heb “those who handle my law.”

[2:8]  ⁴³ tn Or “were not committed to me.” The Hebrew verb rendered “know” refers to more than mere intellectual knowledge. It carries also the ideas of emotional and volitional commitment as well intimacy. See for example its use in contexts like Hos 4:1; 6:6.

[2:8]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “by Baal.”

[2:8]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “and they followed after those things [the word is plural] which do not profit.” The poetic structure of the verse, four lines in which a distinct subject appears at the beginning followed by a fifth line beginning with a prepositional phrase and no distinct subject, argues that this line is climactic and refers to all four classes enumerated in the preceding lines. See W. L. Holladay, Jeremiah (Hermeneia), 1:88-89. There may be a play or pun in the Hebrew text on the name for the god Baal (בַּעַל, ba’al) and the verb “cannot help you” (Heb “do not profit”) which is spelled יַעַל (ya’al).

[2:9]  ⁴⁶ tn Or “bring charges against you.”

[2:9]  ⁴⁷ tn The words “your children and” are supplied in the translation to bring out the idea of corporate solidarity implicit in the passage.

[3:3]  ⁴⁸ tn Heb “you have the forehead of a prostitute.”

[3:4]  ⁴⁹ tn Heb “Have you not just now called out to me, ‘[you are] my father!’?” The rhetorical question expects a positive answer.

[3:5]  ⁵⁰ tn Heb “Will he keep angry forever? Will he maintain [it] to the end?” The questions are rhetorical and expect a negative answer. The change to direct address in the English translation is intended to ease the problem of the rapid transition, common in Hebrew style (but not in English), from second person direct address in the preceding lines to third person indirect address in these two lines. See GKC 462 §144.p.

[3:5]  ⁵¹ tn Heb “You do the evil and you are able.” This is an example of hendiadys, meaning “You do all the evil that you are able to do.”

[3:6]  ⁵² tn “Have you seen…” The question is rhetorical and expects a positive answer.

[3:6]  ⁵³ tn Heb “she played the prostitute there.” This is a metaphor for Israel’s worship; she gave herself to the worship of other gods like a prostitute gives herself to her lovers. There seems no clear way to completely spell out the metaphor in the translation.

[3:7]  ⁵⁴ tn Or “I said to her, ‘Come back to me!’” The verb אָמַר (’amar) usually means “to say,” but here it means “to think,” of an assumption that turns out to be wrong (so HALOT 66.4 s.v. אמר); cf. Gen 44:28; Jer 3:19; Pss 82:6; 139:11; Job 29:18; Ruth 4:4; Lam 3:18.

[3:7]  ⁵⁵ tn The words “what she did” are not in the text but are implicit from the context and are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[3:8]  ⁵⁶ tc Heb “she [‘her sister, unfaithful Judah’ from the preceding verse] saw” with one Hebrew ms, some Greek mss, and the Syriac version. The MT reads “I saw” which may be a case of attraction to the verb at the beginning of the previous verse.

[3:8]  ⁵⁷ tn Heb “because she committed adultery.” The translation is intended to spell out the significance of the metaphor.

[3:8]  ⁵⁸ tn The words “Even after her unfaithful sister, Judah, had seen this” are not in the Hebrew text but are implicit in the connection and are supplied for clarification.

[3:8]  ⁵⁹ tn Heb “she played the prostitute there.” This is a metaphor for Israel’s worship; she gave herself to the worship of other gods like a prostitute gives herself to her lovers. There seems no clear way to completely spell out the metaphor in the translation.

[3:9]  ⁶⁰ tc The translation reads the form as a causative (Hiphil, תַּהֲנֵף, tahanef) with some of the versions in place of the simple stative (Qal, תֶּחֱנַף, tekhenaf) in the MT.

[3:9]  ⁶¹ tn Heb “because of the lightness of her prostitution, she defiled the land and committed adultery with stone and wood.”