This verse is interesting because it does not follow the standard practice in Hebrew of putting the subject after the verb. Instead of this it puts the subject wind at the end of the verse. This is done purely for literary effect.

The wind blows to the south: the word blows in Hebrew is the same as the participle “going” in verse 4. The Hebrew does this to link the two verses together as examples of constant motion in nature. We can preserve this same feature in translation if it will help remind the reader of the theme being followed. Otherwise we use the word most natural to describe the movement of wind.

The wind blows toward the south, so it comes out of the north. The two compass directions complement those of the previous verse. This choice is made deliberately to preserve the balance between the two examples given.

And goes round to the north: just as the sun had to dash back during the night to be ready to rise next morning, so the wind circles back to the north so that it can continue to blow. Round and round makes even stronger the illustration of constant circular movement. Four times in this verse the same verb “going round in circles” is used, and so this thought should be emphasized. Many languages will have terms that graphically describe the swirling wind. Others will need to use an adverb or adverbial phrase to get this effect. “It turns here and there” or “it turns again and again” are two possibilities.

There are many languages where there are no terms for “north” or “south.” East and west can be related to the sun, but the other compass points have to be related to something else. Of course Hebrew itself often uses “right” to point south, and “left” to mean “north”: the speaker faced the direction from which the sun rose, and gave directions from there. Translators can use any natural equivalent.

And on its circuits the wind returns: the term circuits speaks of a circular movement, continuing the theme of the poem. A “circuit” is a track or course that finishes at the same point where it begins, and with the verb returns, it here describes the ceaseless movement around the course. New English Bible uses a verbal phrase here: the wind “goes full circle.” We can also render it “it circles round and round.”

This verse consists of one rather long sentence in Hebrew, and it is packed with verbs. The translator may prefer to use shorter sentences such as “The wind blows south. It blows north. It blows round and round and comes back to where it started.”

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 .

So I turned about means that Qoheleth underwent a change of heart similar to what he has described in verse 17. This seems an odd thing to say when he has already told of his despair. If we understand verses 20-21 to be something in the way of a repetition of the ideas in verses 17-18, the point will become clearer. The initial So is the Hebrew conjunction “and.” It can be omitted from translation, as these verses do not add new or explanatory material, or we use an introductory “Yes” in some languages to show he is repeating an earlier idea.

Gave my heart up to despair is a strong expression. The heart was the equivalent of “mind,” and this reminds us that Qoheleth’s response here is an intellectual one. We might say he is “depressed.” Note also that the heart can represent the person, so my heart can be translated “I.”

The two opening phrases may well be brought together into one and be rendered as “I became utterly despairing about…,” “Upon reflection, I became depressed about…,” or perhaps better, “I could not bear to think about….” When Good News Translation says “I came to regret,” it can give the impression that Qoheleth resented all his efforts and labor. However, Qoheleth does not regret working hard. He actually recommends that everyone work just as hard as he does. The real problem is rather that his portion and reward from working may be taken over by some heir or successor who does not appreciate those things nor the labor they represent.

The object of his despair was all the toil of my labors under the sun. The terms toil and labors have been discussed before at 1.3. In translating these terms we can readily combine them as “all I accomplished.”

For comments on under the sun, see further in 1.3. It is Qoheleth’s phrase for life in this world.

The interpretation suggested here is that Qoheleth is deeply disturbed by the possibility that his hard-earned goods may be inherited by someone unworthy of them, some fool. This leads to the following translation model:

• I couldn’t bear to think about my life’s work and achievements.

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 .

Then I saw: see comments on this introductory form in 3.10 and 4.1.

All toil and all skill in work: two concepts are examined by Qoheleth, toil or labor, and skill. These are related to each other by the fact that people need skill in order to accomplish their work (or, toil). On the meaning of toil see comments at 2.10. In this general setting it is not possible, nor is it desirable, to define the activities more closely. Qoheleth is speaking only of general principles. That is to say, he is thinking of any task and the skills we need to accomplish it. Good News Translation “why people work so hard to succeed” focuses only on effort rather than on the skill people develop and use. We should note that being skillful does not guarantee that a person will be successful. We shall give further consideration to the terms toil and skill below.

Come from a man’s envy of his neighbor: Revised Standard Version come from is an interpretation of the Hebrew, which says literally only that toil and skill themselves are the envy of a person’s neighbor, not that toil and skill stem from envy. Some have taken these words to mean that the outcome of one person’s work and skill provokes envy on the part of others. But Qoheleth appears here to be talking either about motives for what people do, or the effects of competition. Toil and skill are powered by, or perhaps motivated by, the desire to perform better than someone else. Translators will need to find a natural way of expressing this idea in their language. Some possibilities are to say that skill at a task “comes from,” “grows out of,” “is motivated by,” “is spurred on by,” or “is the result of” a sense of competition.

Envy of his neighbor carries a somewhat negative tone in English, as envy, like the word “jealousy,” is a desire to have what someone else has, or to be able to do what they can do. It conveys the sense that we are lacking something and we are unhappy about that fact. Yet this same Hebrew root also means “zeal,” or “passion,” and in Exo 20.5 it is used to describe the LORD’s attitude to those who have made a covenant with him. He is jealous of the relationship and wants nothing to interrupt it. Here it can only have a positive sense. From the way it is used in the Jewish Talmud, we note that the word translated here as “envy” actually means “a sense of rivalry.” It may at times have negative results, but often it is very positive, a stimulus encouraging a person to greater effort when confronting a challenge. Our translation should not give the idea that this is an unhealthy or sinful activity; rather, it is a natural human response to a challenge. A term like “jealousy” in English, then, should be avoided; “an honest sense of competition” may come closer to the meaning. Neighbor is used in the general biblical sense of “the other person” and not with the narrower meaning of a person living in the same village or adjoining house.

The question we need to ask now is what relationship there is between toil, skill, and a sense of competition. Competition may push us to improve our skills, but how can it produce toil? Our conclusion here is that in this passage toil and skill are being used as terms that have almost the same meaning. The first term, toil, is the broad one, and this is then more narrowly defined as skill in working, which is talent, ability, or training to do a task well. This view of the relationship between the two terms will affect our translation. “Skill at a given task” may be a way to combine the two expressions.

Some models for translators to consider in this part of the verse are:

• The skill people acquire in doing any task comes from competing against others.

• A person’s skill in his work is sharpened by a sense of rivalry.

• Skill at a given task and an honest sense of competition go hand in hand.

This also is vanity and a striving after wind: see comments for translation at 1.14. If the above statement about “envy” is correct, namely, that it can have a positive meaning, then in this context hevel cannot mean “vanity” or “meaninglessness.” Qoheleth adds the refrain that “this is hevel” here to indicate that he does not understand how this competitive drive works; he has to admit that it is an enigma.

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 .

It may be argued that verses 23-24 are the beginning of a new subunit because there is a change from second to first person. Yet from another point of view these two short verses serve as a conclusion to what is said in the discussion about wisdom (verses 19-22). “All this” in verse 23 seems to refer back to that lengthy discussion. Verse 24 offers a concluding remark: although wisdom is to be commended, “Who can find it?”

What does All this refer to? Earlier examples of the use of “this” in Qoheleth (for example, 7.14, 18) show that, when used at the end of a subsection, this refers back to the idea or issues in the previous portion. Therefore All this directs our attention to verses 19-22, namely, to wisdom’s power and the wise person’s imperfections. These are the things he examined. This phrase is placed at the front of the sentence in Hebrew as it is in Revised Standard Version. As such it provides emphasis. Translators should look for a means to make this phrase emphatic in their own language as well.

I have tested by wisdom: we are familiar with the importance Qoheleth gives to examining every aspect of individual and social life (see 1.13 and 2.3). Qoheleth used a particular method when conducting these experiments and investigations. He calls this method wisdom, meaning that he used the teachings of the wisdom tradition and its method of examination and reflection to reach his conclusions. Wisdom then has the same meaning it had in 2.3, 9. Using this method Qoheleth tested what power wisdom had. He also examined the faults of the wise person. In this way he could discover more about wisdom’s power as well as about its limitations.

For translation the following models may serve:

• I used wisdom’s principles to learn more about all these things.

• I applied wisdom teachings to see just how true all these things were.

• All of this I examined carefully, testing everything by wisdom’s principles.

• I applied the principles of wisdom to all these subjects to try to understand them.

I said, “I will be wise”: this expresses Qoheleth’s determination in doing this investigative work. I said probably means that he said these things to himself, so a good translation is “I thought,” “I determined I would…,” or “I decided to….” Some languages may, however, be able to retain the Hebrew form and preserve the same meaning. I will be wise uses a rare verb form that can mean “I will act wisely,” “I will become a wise person,” or “I will become wise.” Because this is the only occurrence of this form of the verb, it is difficult to be precise about the shade of meaning it conveys. We shall allow the structure of the verse and the interpretation of it in the following clause to help us reach a solution.

As far as the structure is concerned, the first clause, “I have tested by wisdom,” and this one, “I will be wise,” can be regarded as parallel clauses. In other words, each clause has the same basic meaning, though it is expressed in a slightly different form. I will be wise probably means “I will find a wise answer” or “I will find the answer in wisdom.” It is not a declaration of his search for absolute wisdom but the search for answers to the problems just mentioned.

But it was far from me states that Qoheleth was not able to attain the goal he had set. It is the feminine demonstrative pronoun. Our question is “What does it refer to?” It may point back to “wisdom,” the root which forms a noun in the first clause and a verb in the second clause of this verse. This suggestion arises because “wisdom” is a feminine noun in Hebrew, and this is the standard view of what it refers to. In this context, however, if it did point to “wisdom,” it would be suggesting that the “wisdom principle” could not be found, not that wisdom itself was impossible to find. Yet to claim that the principle of wisdom by which Qoheleth could test the issues was not available to him would be to say that his entire discussion had no foundation. This cannot be what he means, since he is using those wisdom principles throughout. The only other possible conclusion is that it refers to the phrase “testing by wisdom” and to the search for answers that wisdom can give.

Far from me expresses the sense that the answers to questions and the gaining of wisdom were “beyond him,” they eluded him. We can presume that this is due to his limited powers to understand. Limited human ability and the complexity of the issues mean that nobody can fully comprehend, and therefore offer answers to, the problems he encountered. Using the modifier “far away” to describe answering questions may not be acceptable in many languages. The sense is that it is difficult if not impossible to find the answers. In some languages we may be able to use an idiomatic expression such as “it escaped me” or “it was too much for me.” Otherwise the translator may need to express the sense negatively: “I could not find it” or “I was unable to discover it.”

Qoheleth is not claiming here that it is impossible to become a wise person, but that answers to many of his questions could not be found. From this vantage point I will be wise has a more restricted meaning; it says “I will find a wise answer,” or better, “I will find the answer in wisdom.”

The following translation is offered as one that preserves the sense argued here:

• I applied wisdom principles to see how true these things were. I thought to myself, I can find the answers in wisdom, but they [or, it] eluded me [or, … but I could not find them].

Or, in a more simple form:

• I told myself I would use wisdom to study all this, but it was too much. I couldn’t do it.

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 .

The third imperative do it urges readers to get on with the task of living and working enthusiastically.

Whatever your hand finds to do is placed first, before the imperative, for emphasis. The phrase finds to do is an idiom for being able to do something, as in 1 Sam 10.7. Whatever means “everything.” Qoheleth uses the noun phrase your hand to mean “you.” He is thinking not only of what a person can do using the hands, but of all that can be done in general. We can translate as “whatever you are able to do.” Good News Translation “whatever you do” lacks the sense of being able to do things. New American Bible is close to the Hebrew with an English idiom, “anything you can turn your hand to.” Similar idioms may exist in other languages. In some cases such general statements are expressed in conditional clauses: “If you have some thing to do, do it….”

Do it with your might calls for intense and enthusiastic action. The adverbial phrase with your might is literally “by [or, with] your strength” and means the use of all your energies, intellectual and physical. Both aspects are found in the examples that follow. We can express its meaning as “Whatever you are able to do, do it wholeheartedly.” The translator should be able to find an idiomatic expression to indicate this wholeheartedness.

For there is no work or thought or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol: this statement turns us back to verse 5, where it is noted that the dead “know nothing.” The motive for working energetically is that after death there are no further opportunities for work. This reminds us again of how work is central to Qoheleth’s definition of a meaningful life. Once in Sheol, four things are no longer possible. These are introduced by the negative “there is no….” The first is described by the term work. Though in other examples this is a general term, in this context it probably has a narrower meaning, referring to the kind of work the wise person did. However, in translation the general term “work” can also be used.

Thought is similar to what the philosopher does. See comments on 7.25, where the same word is translated “the sum of things.” New American Bible uses “reason.” We can also say “drawing logical conclusions” or “making logical deductions.” Knowledge is the term for “information,” while wisdom is the standard term for what the wise men taught.

These last three nouns summarize the concerns of the wise. Although Hebrew uses nouns here, each is actually an activity, so verbs can be used in our translation. If we take this approach we will have to name the agent: “the dead…” or “dead people….” We can render the sense as “For the dead don’t work, they don’t think things through, they don’t gather information, nor do they hand on the teachings of the wise….”

In Sheol: the Old Testament speaks of a person going down after death “to Sheol,” the place of departed spirits; see, for example, Psa 88.3-4. Sheol is also known as “the Pit,” “Abaddon,” “the grave,” “the land of forgetfulness,” “the darkness” (see Psa 88.11-12). Translators may have trouble translating the idea here if there is a clash of ideas between their world-view and the broad biblical understanding. Good News Translation suggests “the world of the dead,” while New American Bible has “the netherworld.” Both are alternatives to borrowing the Hebrew term “Sheol” in our translation, as Revised Standard Version does. Another possible solution is to avoid all reference to both the place and the name, and refer directly to death itself by saying “after death” or “after you die.” (In this case some adjustment may be needed in the next clause also.)

To which you are going is a reminder to the living that there is only one destination toward which every living being is moving. The use of the Hebrew participle going and the ending on the Hebrew adverb translated “there” stress this movement toward death or the place of the dead. We can use the verb “to head for” or some such verb expressing movement.

Revised Standard Version reflects the Hebrew order of clauses in this part of the verse, which has quite a dramatic effect. However, in other languages it may be much more effective to change this order; for example,

• Because in Sheol, where you are going, there’s no more working, no more reasoning, no more knowing, no more being wise!

• For in the place of the dead, nobody works, they don’t think, they aren’t wise, they don’t know anything—and that is where you’re headed!

New Jerusalem Bible provides another acceptable model for the whole verse:

• Whatever it is in your power to do, do with all your might. For there is no action, no reasoning, no learning, no wisdom in Sheol, where you are going.

As a further alternative we can suggest:

• So everything that you are able to do, do it with all your heart, because where you’re headed, you will not be able to do anything—to think, to find out anything, or to become wise.

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 .

I applied my mind is the same phrase we saw in verse 13.

To know wisdom places the emphasis on experience, because the verb know, used three times in this verse (“know wisdom,” “know madness,” “perceive”), is often used in the sense of experiencing something (as in Gen 4.1). Qoheleth experiments to find out what wisdom truly is, and what difference it makes to a person’s life.

But Qoheleth also wanted to know madness and folly, that is, to know more about the foolish and evil things that people do, and what their negative and positive (if any) value was. Qoheleth describes two opposites or extremes, wisdom and folly, indicating that his experiment was thorough and comprehensive (see also 2.9-10).

Madness is not mental illness but is a word similar to foolishness. The special Hebrew term here is a word found only in Qoheleth. Translators should seek a word that does not refer to illness, so a word like “stupidity” would suit. The translator can use two equivalent words of similar meaning or use a single term to express the idea.

I perceived (literally “knew”) indicates that Qoheleth “learned,” “found out,” or “discovered” by this testing process that he was attempting something beyond his power to fully comprehend. This also refers back to the experiment to test both wisdom and folly. Because the demonstrative pronoun this leaves the meaning unclear, it can be clarified by adding a phrase like “in trying to do this.” This produces a possible translation, “I discovered, in trying to know these things, that I was…,” or “I came to the conclusion that trying to understand these things is like….”

For comments on a striving after wind, see verse 14. Qoheleth once again tells us he discovered that it is not possible to learn all about life; it is like trying to “shepherd the wind.”

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 .