Discovery BoxEcclesiastes 8:15
Context8:15 So I recommend the enjoyment of life, 1
for there is nothing better on earth 2 for a person to do 3 except 4 to eat, drink, and enjoy 5 life. 6
So 7 joy 8 will accompany him in his toil
during the days of his life which God gives him on earth. 9
Ecclesiastes 8:17--9:1
Context8:17 then I discerned all that God has done: 10
No one really comprehends what happens 11 on earth. 12
Despite all human 13 efforts to discover it, no one can ever grasp 14 it. 15
Even if 16 a wise person claimed 17 that he understood,
he would not really comprehend 18 it. 19
9:1 So I reflected on all this, 20 attempting to clear 21 it all up.
I concluded that 22 the righteous and the wise, as well as their works, are in the hand of God;
whether a person will be loved or hated 23 –
no one knows what lies ahead. 24
[8:15] 1 tn Heb “the enjoyment.” The phrase “of life” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity.
[8:15] 2 tn Heb “under the sun.”
[8:15] 3 tn The phrase “to do” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for smoothness.
[8:15] 4 tn The construction אִם…כִּי (ki…’im) is used as a particle of exception to limit the preceding clause (“except; nothing but”). See, e.g., Gen 28:17; 39:9; Lev 21:2; Num 14:30; Deut 10:12; 1 Sam 30:22; 2 Kgs 4:2; 5:15; 2 Chr 21:17; Esth 2:15; 5:12; Eccl 3:12; Isa 42:19; Dan 10:21; Mic 6:8 (cf. HALOT 471 s.v. אִם כִּי B.2; BDB 474 s.v. אִם כִּי 2.a).
[8:15] 5 sn Except to eat, drink, and enjoy life. Qoheleth is not commending a self-indulgent lifestyle of Epicurean hedonism. Nor is he lamenting the absolute futility of life and the lack of eternal retribution. He is submitting to the reality that in a sin-cursed world there is much of human existence marked by relative futility. Since the righteous man cannot assume that he will automatically experience temporal prosperity and blessings on this earth, he should – at the very least – enjoy each day to its fullest as a gift from God. D. R. Glenn (“Ecclesiastes,” BKCOT, 997) notes, “Each day’s joys should be received as gifts from God’s hands and be savored as God permits (3:13; 5:19).”
[8:15] 6 tn The term “life” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity and smoothness.
[8:15] 7 tn The vav introduces a logical conclusion.
[8:15] 8 tn Heb “it”; the referent (enjoyment of life) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[8:15] 9 tn Heb “under the sun.”
[8:17] 10 tn Heb “all the work of God.”
[8:17] 11 tn Heb “the work that is done.”
[8:17] 12 tn Heb “under the sun.”
[8:17] 13 tn Heb “his”; the referent (man, in a generic sense) has been specified in the translation as the adjective “human” for clarity.
[8:17] 15 tn The term “it” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for smoothness.
[8:17] 16 tn The particle אִם (’im, “even if”) introduces the protasis in a real conditional clause (“If a wise man …”); see IBHS 636-37 §38.2d; R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 74, §453.
[8:17] 17 tn The imperfect tense verb יֹאמַר (yo’mar, “to say”) functions in a modal sense, denoting possibility (see IBHS 508 §31.4e; R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 31, §169).
[8:17] 18 tn Heb “he cannot find”; or “he does not find.”
[8:17] 19 tn The term “it” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is an implied direct object and has been supplied in the translation for smoothness and stylistic reasons.
[9:1] 19 tn Heb “I laid all this to my heart.”
[9:1] 20 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] 21 tn The words “I concluded that” do not appear in the Hebrew text, but are supplied in the translation for clarity.
