If people cannot alter the way things are in this world, what should they do? Qoheleth answers this with two further imperatives, be joyful and consider. Consider repeats the opening call in verse 13. This repetition suggests that the focus lies with this verb. The former, be joyful, uses the verb “be” and the adjective “good” rather than the usual “see” as in 2.1, 22. Perhaps the reason for the slight change in this case is that the verb “see” is used in the second imperative, “consider.”

In the day of prosperity: this is a metaphorical use of the term day, meaning “occasion” or “time” rather than a twenty-four hour period, and is identical to what we have seen in 7.1. Here it is a dependent form bound to the word “good.” The presence of the keyword “good,” both here and in the next phrase, continues the literary theme begun in the last verse of chapter 6 and continuing throughout this chapter. This term occurs here as a feminine noun in the singular, but it has a collective sense meaning “good things,” hence Revised Standard Version prosperity. Good News Translation expresses the phrase as “When things are going well for you,” providing a clearer contrast with the second half of the verse; but Revised Standard Version prosperity is actually closer to the sense of material goods contained in the original term. Before deciding which term to use to render prosperity, the translator needs to consider the advice in the following clause, because it addresses the opposite condition. We need to find a natural contrasting pair of terms for this verse, such as “good … bad,” “prosperity … adversity,” “abundance … lack.” A very natural expression in English is “When times are good….”

Be joyful consists of the imperative of the verb “be,” with the adjective “good.” As was noted above, Qoheleth generally uses the verb “see” in connection with “good” to denote enjoyment. Here he has modified the phrase slightly, but the meaning is obviously the same. The call to enjoy the things God gives is an important part of Qoheleth’s overall instruction to his readers.

Some suggestions for translation are:

• Be happy when you have the good things of life.

• Enjoy life’s good things.

• When you have something good, you should enjoy it.

• When times are good, enjoy yourself!

And in the day of adversity: the introductory conjunction and may be better understood as providing the sharp contrast between this portion of the saying and the previous one. Translation as “but” may make that sense clearer.

Day is used in the same sense as in the previous phrase, that is as “moments” or “occasions.” Adversity is a good translation of the Hebrew noun for “evil,” since it does not have any moral sense here; it simply describes the many troubles that strike us during our life on earth (see 1.13; 5.13; 6.1 for similar ideas). Qoheleth’s idea then is “whenever disaster strikes,” or “whenever there are problems.”

Consider recalls the opening imperative of verse 13. The call is to meditate on the things God does and also on those things that happen to us in a more general sense. In this way Qoheleth hopes that we will learn from the tragedies we see as we live in this enigmatic world. The theme of this verse reminds us of the opening verses of the chapter (2-4), where we are told that death, sorrow, and mourning are good for us, since they can teach us wisdom. This repetition of theme is another clue that the section is moving toward its close. We can translate as “but whenever there are problems, stop and think about what they might signify” or “when disasters strike, ask yourself what is really happening [or, what you can learn from them].”

We observe here that Qoheleth, like all sages, divides human experience very simply into good and bad. This is a special and stylized way of speaking. Qoheleth is not saying that only when we have many goods can we enjoy life, or only when we meet difficulties should we ponder them. The simplistic division he uses could give us that impression, but it would be a false conclusion. Actually we are to enjoy every moment, since they are given to us by God; both life and toil with all its hardships are for us to rejoice in (see comments on 2.24; 3.12 for instance) and to ponder. Only a wise person could suggest that this is possible.

God has made the one as well as the other: this is a point at which Qoheleth’s understanding of God’s activity in this world becomes very clear. He shares an idea that the prophet Amos also expressed (for example Amos 4.6-11), namely, that all events are ultimately God’s doing. If God is truly all-powerful, then one conclusion these writers drew is that God is the origin of everything that happens, regardless of whether we consider it good or evil.

When Qoheleth says that God has made all these things, he uses a verb that is from the same root as the word “work” in verse 13. Since it is not certain that Qoheleth is thinking only about creation here, we may avoid that narrower understanding if we give its meaning here as “done” or “caused.” Even if we believe that God permits or allows things to happen, rather than that he actively causes them all, that view cannot appear in our translation, for it would distort what Qoheleth believed and said.

The object of the verb “done” or “made” is put first in the Hebrew clause in order to draw special attention to it; literally it is “this as well as this made God.” On several occasions we see Qoheleth using this device to point to two alternatives, as in 3.19 (“as one dies, so dies the other”); 6.5 (“it rather than he”); and 11.6 (“this or that”). Some languages actually use a pattern similar to Hebrew, “this one and this one,” to refer to two different and often opposite items. In other languages such an expression would never be understood. In many languages we would have to use contrasting demonstratives, “this one and that one.” To make clear what the one as well as the other is referring to, translators can use the same two terms used earlier in the verse to render “the good things” and “disasters”; for example, “God causes [or, sends] both joy and trouble.”

So that man may not find out appears to say that God deliberately makes it impossible for people to understand what he does. The Hebrew conjunction translated so that occurs only here in the Hebrew Old Testament, though it is used in Aramaic in Dan 2.30 and 4.17. Some commentators have suggested “because” with a result clause as an appropriate translation, but it is more accurate to use “in order that” or “so that” with a purpose clause.

Man may not find out: we can render man as the collective “people,” or representative “anyone,” or “a person,” as the noun used is the general term ʾadam “humanity.” Qoheleth argues that the purpose of God’s activity is to prevent people from finding out what he is doing. May not find out features one of the significant keywords in this portion of Qoheleth’s presentation. It is used in the same way as the verb “know” in passages like 8.5, 7, but here it suggests that man is on a search, looking for something. Thus if a verb like “[not] find” is inappropriate in the translator’s language, expressions like “cannot discover,” “cannot figure out,” “never come to understand,” or even “may never [come to] know,” would be acceptable. Qoheleth shares the belief that human beings are limited in ability. Despite having the power to discover many things about themselves, about the world, and about God, human knowledge is nevertheless severely restricted. This is a statement of fact, certainly not a complaint or criticism.

Anything that will be after him directs our attention back to 6.11-12 and to the question about what a person can know about events “after him.” In 1.9-10 and 7.10 there was reference to Qoheleth’s view of events; he argued that there was nothing new in the world, because today’s events repeated past events. By analyzing what happened in the past, we can know a little about the future. Anything may be expanded in translation to read “anything that happens.” Him in this clause refers back to man and not to God.

The time phrase after him can refer to:
(1) events in the future before our death;
(2) things taking place in the world after we depart it; or
(3) what happens to us after we die and depart this earth.

Our phrase here lacks the modifying phrase “under the sun” (seen in 6.12), so we should aim for a translation that is general enough to allow all three of the above possibilities. For example, “so that people will never discover what will happen in the future,” “so that we can never know what the future holds for us,” or “so that we can never discover what happens to us after we die.”

The suggestion of New American Bible that find out means “to find fault with” what God does is an overinterpretation of the way that verb functions in Qoheleth, though Good News Translation and several other versions put this interpretation in a footnote. Jerusalem Bible “so that he may know nothing of his destiny” is sufficiently general to provide a good model, but Good News Translation “you never know what is going to happen next” seems to have lost the broader or long-term emphasis.

The first part of the verse has a very balanced structure and almost a poetic ring. There is again a rhythm in the movement of thought, which the translator should try to preserve, if possible:
In the day of good, be joyful
In the day of evil, consider
this one and that one
God has made ….

The entire verse can be rendered:

• When times are good, enjoy yourself.
When times are bad, stop and reflect.
Yes, God has made both the good and the bad,
So that no one can ever know what the future holds.

• In prosperity, rejoice.
In adversity, reflect.
For God has created both of these,
and we can never know what happens after we die.

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 .