Pengkhotbah 2:10

2:10 I did not restrain myself from getting whatever I wanted; ¹ 

I did not deny myself anything that would bring me pleasure. ² 

So all my accomplishments gave me joy; ³ 

this was my reward for all my effort. ⁴ 

Pengkhotbah 2:15

2:15 So I thought to myself, “The fate of the fool will happen even to me! ⁵ 

Then what did I gain by becoming so excessively ⁶  wise?” ⁷ 

So I lamented to myself, ⁸ 

“The benefits of wisdom ⁹  are ultimately ¹⁰  meaningless!”

Pengkhotbah 5:15

5:15 Just as he came forth from his mother's womb, naked will he return as he came,

and he will take nothing in his hand that he may carry away from his toil.

[2:10]  ¹ tn Heb “all which my eyes asked for, I did not withhold from them.”

[2:10]  ² tn Heb “I did not refuse my heart any pleasure.” The term לִבִּי (libbi, “my heart”) is a synecdoche of part (i.e., heart) for the whole (i.e., whole person); see E. W. Bullinger, Figures of Speech, 648. The term is repeated twice in 2:10 for emphasis.

[2:10]  ³ tn Heb “So my heart was joyful from all my toil.”

[2:10]  ⁴ tn Heb “and this was my portion from all my toil.”

[2:15]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ 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]  ⁷ 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]  ⁸ tn Heb “So I said in my heart.”

[2:15]  ⁹ tn Heb “and also this,” referring to the relative advantage of wisdom over folly.

[2:15]  ¹⁰ tn The word “ultimately” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity.