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 9:9
Context9:9 Enjoy 10 life with your beloved wife 11 during all the days of your fleeting 12 life
that God 13 has given you on earth 14 during all your fleeting days; 15
for that is your reward in life and in your burdensome work 16 on earth. 17
[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.”
[9:9] 11 tn Heb “the wife whom you love.”
[9:9] 12 tn As discussed in the note on the word “futile” in 1:2, the term הֶבֶל (hevel) has a wide range of meanings, and should not be translated the same in every place (see HALOT 236–37 s.v. I הֶבֶל; BDB 210–11 s.v. I הבֶל). The term is used in two basic ways in OT, literally and figuratively. The literal, concrete sense is used in reference to the wind, man’s transitory breath, evanescent vapor (Isa 57:13; Pss 62:10; 144:4; Prov 21:6; Job 7:16). In this sense, it is often a synonym for “breath; wind” (Eccl 1:14; Isa 57:13; Jer 10:14). The literal sense lent itself to the metaphorical sense. Because breath/vapor/wind is transitory and fleeting, the figurative connotation “fleeting; transitory” arose (e.g., Prov 31:30; Eccl 6:12; 7:15; 9:9; 11:10; Job 7:16). In this sense, it is parallel to “few days” and “[days] which he passes like a shadow” (Eccl 6:12). It is used in reference to youth and vigor (11:10) or life (6:12; 7:15; 9:9) which are “transitory” or “fleeting.” In this context, the most appropriate meaning is “fleeting.”
[9:9] 13 tn Heb “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[9:9] 14 tn Heb “under the sun”
[9:9] 15 tc The phrase כָּל יְמֵי הֶבְלֶךָ (kol yÿme hevlekha, “all your fleeting days”) is present in the MT, but absent in the Greek versions, other medieval Hebrew
