These words that begin the section are identical with those of verse 1, literally “I turned and saw.” As in verse 1, translators should consider using a standard discourse marker to signal the beginning of a new subsection. Adverbs of time like “Then” or Again may be appropriate.

Vanity describes a situation that is far from “meaningless” or “useless” as suggested by Good News Translation; rather it is an ironic situation, one that is opposite to what we would expect. It presents a brief case study of a person who is very successful in material terms, but who does not seem to ask about the purpose or goal of such success. That situation is what baffles Qoheleth, hence his description of the situation as hevel, that is, “ironic,” or “beyond comprehension.” See further in “Translating Ecclesiastes,” page 2, for the discussion of hevel.

Under the sun: refer to comments on 1.3.

For translation: “Then I observed something else that puzzled me,” or “I saw something else on this earth that is difficult to explain.”

Verse 7 is clearly introductory to verse 8. Some versions end it with a colon to indicate this relationship.

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 .