With the climax at the end of this verse, we come to the first powerful response to the question put in 1.3. Everything between 1.4 and 2.10 serves the purpose of justifying this conclusion.

Qoheleth has reached a conclusion: there is no “lasting benefit” available here on earth. He drew this conclusion from reflecting on his achievements mentioned above in 2.1-10.

The verb considered is literally “I turned my face toward,” with the sense “I gave my full attention to.” The phrase the toil I had spent in doing it is co-ordinated with the phrase all that my hands had done. It simply means that Qoheleth thought about what he had achieved and how he had managed to achieve it. As in the previous verse, where “eyes” and “heart” are words representing the whole person, so here “hands” also stands for the person. In some languages reference to the work of the hands is natural, but in others the pronoun “I” should be substituted. We can catch the idea of the verse with a rendering such as “I gave a lot of thought to what I had gained and how hard I worked to obtain it.”

As for his conclusion, he repeats the saying behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind. For the interpretation and translation of this phrase, see the discussion in 1.14. In notes on 1.14 and 2.1, attention was drawn to the function of the Hebrew particle hinneh. Here it marks the frustration Qoheleth feels as he comes to his important conclusion. We can translate it by a concluding marker, or say “In conclusion I found…,” or “My conclusion was…,” or an expression conveying frustration, such as “Let’s face it.”

There was nothing to be gained under the sun indicates that, despite there being some “reward” or “portion,” Qoheleth could find no lasting benefit here on earth in all those great achievements. We can render the statement as “No, a person cannot find lasting benefit here on earth.” It is important to use here the same word as was used to translate yithron in 1.3, so that the connection is made as clear as possible.

Possible models for translation are:

• I gave a lot of thought to what I had gained and how hard I worked to achieve it. I could not understand it; it was as impossible as shepherding the wind. A person cannot find a lasting benefit on this earth.

• I considered all the things I had done and all the work I had put into it, and this is what I found: all is a mystery. It’s like trying to shepherd the wind [or, direct the way the wind blows]. Let’s face it; there is no lasting benefit here on earth.

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 .