Pengkhotbah 1:14
Konteks1:14 I reflected on everything that is accomplished by man 1 on earth, 2
and I concluded: Everything 3 he has accomplished 4 is futile 5 – like chasing the wind! 6
Pengkhotbah 2:22
Konteks2:22 What does a man acquire from all his labor
and from the anxiety that accompanies his toil on earth? 7
Pengkhotbah 8:6
Konteks8:6 For there is a proper time and procedure for every matter,
for the oppression 8 of the king 9 is severe upon his victim. 10
Pengkhotbah 9:2
Konteks9:2 Everyone shares the same fate 11 –
the righteous and the wicked,
the good and the bad, 12
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; 13
what happens to those who make vows, also happens to those who are afraid to make vows.
[1:14] 1 tn The phrase “by man” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity.
[1:14] 2 tn Heb “under the sun.”
[1:14] 3 tn As mentioned in the note on “everything” in 1:2, the term הַכֹּל (hakkol, “everything”) is often limited in reference to the specific topic at hand in the context (e.g., BDB 482 s.v. כֹּל 2). The argument of 1:12-15, like 1:3-11, focuses on secular human achievement. This is clear from the repetition of the root עָשַׂה (’asah, “do, work, accomplish, achieve”) in 1:12-13.
[1:14] 4 tn The phrase “he has accomplished” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity.
[1:14] 5 tn This usage of הֶבֶל (hevel) denotes “futile, profitless, fruitless” (e.g., 2 Kgs 17:15; Ps 78:33; Prov 13:11; 21:6; Eccl 1:2, 14; 2:1, 14-15; 4:8; Jer 2:5; 10:3; Lam 4:17; see HALOT 236–37 s.v. I הֶבֶל; BDB 210–11 s.v. I הֶבֶל). The term is used with the simile “like striving after the wind” (רְעוּת רוּחַ, rÿ’ut ruakh) – a graphic picture of an expenditure of effort in vain because no one can catch the wind by chasing it (e.g., 1:14, 17; 2:11, 17, 26; 4:4, 6, 16; 6:9; 7:14). When used in this sense, the term is often used with the following synonyms: לְתֹהוּ (lÿtohu, “for nothing, in vain, for no reason”; Isa 49:4); רִיק (riq, “profitless; useless”; Isa 30:7; Eccl 6:11); לֹא הוֹעִיל (“worthless, profitless”; Is 30:6; 57:12; Jer 16:19); “what profit?” (מַה־יִּתְרוֹןֹ, mah-yyitron); and “no profit” (אֵין יִּתְרוֹן, en yyitron; e.g., 2:11; 3:19; 6:9). It is also used in antithesis to terms connoting value: טוֹב (tov, “good, benefit, advantage”) and יֹתְרוֹן (yotÿron, “profit, advantage, gain”). Despite everything that man has accomplished in history, it is ultimately futile because nothing on earth really changes.
[1:14] 6 tn Heb “striving of wind.” The word “like” does not appear in the Hebrew text; it has been added in the translation to make the comparative notion clear.
[2:22] 7 tn Heb “under the sun.” The rhetorical question is an example of negative affirmation, expecting a negative answer: “Man acquires nothing” (see E. W. Bullinger, Figures of Speech, 949-51).
[8:6] 8 tn Heb “evil”; or “misery.”
[9:2] 11 tn Heb “all things just as to everyone, one fate.”
[9:2] 12 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.