SIL Translator’s Notes on Ecclesiastes 2006

SIL Translator’s Notes on Ecclesiastes 1:4

1:4a Generations come and generations go,

Each year old people die and babies are born, (Translation for Translators)
-or-
People are born and they live on the earth. At the end of their lives, they die. (EASY2015)
-or-
People die and their children take their place.

1:4b but the earth remains forever.

but this earth just continues to exist.
-or-
But the earth continues as it has always continued. (EASY2015)

© 2006 by SIL International®
Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0.
All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.

SIL Translator’s Notes on Ecclesiastes 2:20

2:20 So my heart began to despair over all the labor that I had done under the sun.

And so I stopped caring about all that I worked so hard for in this world.
-or-
I thought about all my hard work, and I felt depressed. (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
So I came to regret that I had worked so hard. (Good News Translation)

SIL Translator’s Notes on Ecclesiastes 4:4

Section 4:4-12

It’s useless for people to work more than they should.

4:4a I saw that all labor and success spring from a man’s envy of his neighbor.

Then I realized that people work hard to succeed in order to compete with their neighbors.
-or-
Then I thought, “Why do people work so hard?” I saw people try to succeed and be better than other people. They do this because they are jealous. They don’t want other people to have more than they have. (English Easy-to-Read Version)
-or-
I have also learned why people work so hard. They want to be better than other people ⌊and have more things than those people have⌋ .

4:4b This too is futile and a pursuit of the wind.

That is also pointless, just like chasing the wind.
-or-
This too, is useless. It is like trying to control where the wind blows.

4:4a-b (combined)

We do not like other people to have more than we have. That is why we work for many hours each day. That is why we try to do very many things. This, too, is useless, like somebody who tries to catch the wind.

SIL Translator’s Notes on Ecclesiastes 5:20

5:20a For a man seldom considers the days of his life,

So they do not always think about ⌊the bad things⌋ in their lives,
-or-
Such ⌊happy⌋ people do not often think about their lives

5:20b because God keeps him occupied with the joy of his heart.

because God keeps them busy with what they enjoy doing.
-or-
because God lets them be happy enjoying ⌊life and⌋ work.

5:20a-b (combined)

A person like that doesn’t have to think about how their life is going. That’s because God fills their heart with joy. (New International Reader’s Version)
-or-
God will keep you so happy that you won’t have time to worry about each day. (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
God will keep you busy and he will make you happy. You will be too busy to think about your troubles each day. (EASY2015)

SIL Translator’s Notes on Ecclesiastes 7:20

7:20 Surely there is no righteous man on earth who does good and never sins.

Not a single person on earth is always good and never sins. (New Living Translation (2004))
-or-
Yet no one in this world is always right. There is no one who always does what is good and never sins.
-or-
There is nobody on the earth who is so righteous that they always do what is right.There is nobody who never does a wrong thing. (EEB)

SIL Translator’s Notes on Ecclesiastes 9:6

9:6a Their love, their hate, and their envy have already vanished,

After people die, they can no longer hate other people or love people or envy them.
-or-
If they loved people, if they hated people, if they were jealous of people, all that has finished. (EEB)

9:6b and they will never again have a share in all that is done under the sun.

They can never again be involved in anything that happens in this world.
-or-
And they will never again share in what happens on earth. (English Easy-to-Read Version)

SIL Translator’s Notes on Ecclesiastes 10:20

10:20a Do not curse the king even in your thoughts,

Do not say bad things about the king. Do not even think about it! (EEB)
-or-
Don’t criticize the king, even silently, (Good News Translation)

10:20b or curse the rich even in your bedroom,

Even when you are in your bedroom, do not say bad things about rich people. (EEB)
-or-
and don’t criticize the rich, even in the privacy of your bedroom. (Good News Translation)
-or-
And don’t say bad things about rich people, even if you are alone in your home. (English Easy-to-Read Version)

10:20c for a bird of the air may carry your words,

⌊This is⌋ because someone may ⌊happen to hear you without you noticing⌋ ,
-or-

⌊This is⌋ because someone may remember your words

10:20d and a winged creature may report your speech.

and tell others what you said.
-or-
and go tell ⌊the people⌋ what you said about them.

SIL Translator’s Notes on Ecclesiastes 1:17

1:17a So I set my mind to know wisdom

So I decided to devote myself to understanding wisdom ⌊more thoroughly⌋
-or-
Then I became determined to truly know ⌊how⌋ to think wisely ⌊about life⌋

1:17b and madness and folly;

and ⌊also⌋ to understand stupidity and folly.
-or-
and to understand ⌊what kind of thoughts would⌋ be stupid and foolish.

1:17a-b (combined)

So I decided to use my mind to learn everything about wisdom, and madness and foolishness as well. (FBV)
-or-
I wanted to learn all that I could learn about thinking wisely. I also wanted to know how a fool thinks.

1:17c I learned that this, too, is a pursuit of the wind.

But I now know that ⌊trying to understand these things⌋ is also just like chasing the wind.
-or-

⌊After some time⌋ I realized that these efforts were also ⌊just as pointless⌋ as trying to herd/control the wind.
-or-
But I found out that trying to understand those things was also useless, like chasing the wind. (Translation for Translators)

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Source: SIL Translator’s Notes on Ecclesiastes 2006