Qoheleth is not suggesting that the child has nothing because his parents lost everything through unfortunate circumstances. Rather, he is emphasizing the point that this child is like every other child at birth, entering the world with no possessions whatsoever. The illustration here is probably modeled on Job 1.21, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I shall return.” We can think of this verse as an “aside,” which means that it is a comment from Qoheleth that is not central to his discussion but which he uses to illustrate the main point he is making.

As he came from his mother’s womb: the expression mother’s womb may require a euphemism rather than a literal translation, depending on whether the term can be mentioned publicly in the community. The Hebrew “come out” balances with the verb “return, go back” in the next line. New English Bible has “came from the womb of mother earth.” This is an intriguing translation, and although it accords well with the Biblical idea that human beings are formed from the dust of the earth, in this case it does seem to overinterpret the text. “As he comes into the world” or “As he was when he is born” are more general ways of saying the same thing. In many languages it will be necessary to state the basis of the comparison in this first clause: “As he comes into this world owning nothing….”

He shall go again, naked as he came: the Hebrew says literally “naked shall he return to go as he came.” The term naked describes not only a person’s physical state at birth, but also has a metaphorical sense meaning lacking all material possessions. If it cannot be made clear that naked has a double sense, then translators can render the broader sense, “owning nothing.” We may also consider conserving the form “naked” and following it with a descriptive phrase: “naked, owning nothing.”

He shall go again (Hebrew, “return”) is a euphemism for dying and leaving this world. The aside thus points to the two extremes of life—birth and death. We enter the world with nothing, and regardless of how hard we work and how much we gain throughout life, we leave the world as we entered it, taking nothing with us. The translator can use the terms “shall die” and “was born” to translate shall go and came, but this will rob the passage of its poetic value. Translators should be aware of the euphemisms for these events in their language and substitute them if possible. For example, in English “enter this world” and “leave” or “depart this world” are appropriate euphemisms that convey the meaning and at the same time conserve the poetic impact here.

In this verse there are actually two references to being born and one to dying: “as he came … so shall he go … as he came.” In most languages one reference to birth will be sufficient.

Since the purpose of this illustration is to remind readers of those critical moments when possessions can make no difference to our situation, we shall treat this portion as a general comment. The noun form “a child” will give a more personal touch than preserving the Hebrew pronoun “he.” Translation can be as follows:

• As a child enters the world without possessions, so will it depart this world at death.

• A child is born owning nothing, and he will have nothing after he dies.

• A child enters the world empty-handed; he will leave it in the same way.

• A child comes into the world naked, owning nothing, and leaves in the same way.

And shall take nothing for his toil: when death comes we depart without any of our possessions. On toil see comments on 1.3. Here the preposition rendered for has the instrumental sense “by means of” or “generated by,” hence “derived from.” So we translate “from his labor [or, work].” Thus the saying is looking forward to the end of person’s life of toil; and so we assume it refers to the same subject “he,” or “the child,” of the first part of the verse.

Which he may carry away in his hand: material possessions gathered and earned during all the years we have toiled on earth cannot be taken with us when we depart this life. In his hand is redundant and can be omitted in translation. In many African languages, however, this idiom exists and may be quite appropriate.

Thus we can translate as follows:

• He can take nothing that he worked hard to save.

• So, a person will take nothing gained from his labor when he dies.

• For [or, Despite] all their labor, people can take nothing with them!

Perhaps we can also express it as:

• Everything we have worked for has to be left behind.

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 .