Ecclesiastes 6:7-9

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. Ecclesiastes 6:7 tn The phrase “for nothing more than” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity.
2. Ecclesiastes 6:7 tn Heb “All man’s work is for his mouth.” The term “mouth” functions as a synecdoche of part (i.e., mouth) for the whole (i.e., person), substituting the organ of consumption for the person’s action of consumption (see E. W. Bullinger, Figures of Speech, 641-43), as suggested by the parallelism with נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, “his appetite”).
3. Ecclesiastes 6:7 tn The term נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, “desire; appetite”) is used as a metonymy of association, that is, the soul is associated with man’s desires and appetites (BDB 660 s.v. נֶפֶשׁ 5.c; 6.a).
4. Ecclesiastes 6:8 sn So what advantage does the wise man have over a fool? The rhetorical question in Hebrew implies a negative answer: the wise man has no absolute advantage over a fool in the sense that both will share the same fate: death. Qoheleth should not be misunderstood here as denying that wisdom has no relative advantage over folly; elsewhere he affirms that wisdom does yield some relative benefits in life (7:1-22). However, wisdom cannot deliver one from death.
5. Ecclesiastes 6:8 sn As in the preceding parallel line, this rhetorical question implies a negative answer (see the note after the word “fool” in the preceding line).
6. Ecclesiastes 6:8 tn Heb “ What to the pauper who knows to walk before the living”; or “how to get along in life.”
7. Ecclesiastes 6:9 tn The phrase “to be content with” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity.
8. Ecclesiastes 6:9 tn The expression מַרְאֵה עֵינַיִם (marʾeh ʿenayim, “the seeing of the eyes”) is a metonymy of cause (i.e., seeing an object) for effect (i.e., being content with what the eyes can see); see E. W. Bullinger, Figures of Speech, 552-54.
9. Ecclesiastes 6:9 tn Heb “the roaming of the soul.” The expression מֵהֲלָךְ־נָפֶשׁ (mehalakh nafesh, “the roaming of the soul”) is a metonymy for unfulfilled desires. The term “soul” (נֶפֶשׁ, nefesh) is used as a metonymy of association for man’s desires and appetites (BDB 660 s.v. נֶפֶשׁ 5.c; 6.a). This also involves the personification of the roving appetite as “roving” (מֵהֲלָךְ); see BDB 235 s.v. הָלַךְ II.3.f; 232 I.3.
10. Ecclesiastes 6:9 tn The phrase “continual longing” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity.
11. Ecclesiastes 6:9 tn The term “like” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity and smoothness.