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 9:13
Konteks9:13 This is what I also observed about wisdom on earth, 8
and it is a great burden 9 to me:
Pengkhotbah 10:5
Konteks10:5 I have seen another 10 misfortune 11 on the earth: 12
It is an error a ruler makes. 13
[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).
[9:13] 8 tn Heb “under the sun.”
[9:13] 9 tn The term “burden” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity.
[10:5] 10 tn The term “another” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation to indicate that this is not the first “misfortune” described by the Teacher. See 5:13, 16; 6:1-2.
[10:5] 12 tn Heb “under the sun.”
[10:5] 13 tn Heb “like an error that comes forth from the presence of a ruler.”