Understanding the structure of the verse will help our translation. It speaks about two attitudes to life, each represented by a prepositional phrase, “concerning laughter,” and “concerning pleasure.” These stand at the head of each half of the verse. The one verb I said serves both halves. Such a structure reminds us that both halves of the verse say basically the same thing.

I said of laughter is literally “Concerning laughter, I said.” The expression I said here points to a conclusion Qoheleth is making: “I saw that,” “I found out that,” “I discovered.” By drawing the object to the front of each clause, the author draws special attention to it. Laughter is a term Qoheleth uses several times, usually with a negative sense (see 7.3). As laughter is generally our response to an amusing situation, we can recognize that Qoheleth is not testing laughter itself, but rather a light-hearted attitude to life. We must not lose sight of the question Qoheleth is asking as he examines these experiences. He wants to know what will provide the “lasting benefit.” He concludes that these two things, failure to take life seriously and seeking material success, cannot give lasting benefit, even though both are perfectly good and proper in themselves.

It is mad: note the discussion in 1.17 about the translation of “madness.” We need a word that suggests it is unable to give “lasting benefit.”

For translation: “Failure to take life seriously is dangerous” or “If we are too light-hearted we are being stupid.”

Of pleasure: again the noun is brought forward in the prepositional phrase heading the sentence. See the discussion in verse 1 for the meaning of “pleasure.”

Qoheleth varies his expression in the second half of the verse, using a rhetorical question to express the conclusion he reached. He asked himself What use is it? or “What did it accomplish?” We may wish to preserve the question form, or if a negative statement is more natural, we can say “It accomplished nothing either.” Again we remind ourselves that the background for the saying is the search for “lasting benefit,” so the meaning is that pleasure could not give such benefit.

For translation:

• I saw that it is foolish to be too light-hearted. What does pleasure accomplish anyway?

Quoted with permission from Ogden, Graham S. and Zogbo, Lynell. A Handbook on the Book of Ecclesiates. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1997. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .