As he continues his description of the third youth and of what he observed, Qoheleth appears now to elaborate on the theme of the vast number of people mentioned in verse 15.

There was no end of all the people: the phrase all the people refers back to “all the living” spoken of in verse 15. Of them Qoheleth says there was no end, indicating that the number was beyond measure. See Good News Translation “no limit to the number of people.” Translators should find an appropriate idiom to express this idea. Some languages will prefer to introduce an agent: “You [or, One] could not count the number of people.” Idiomatic expressions may be quite effective: “The people were many. You can’t say!” “There were more people than the hairs on a dog.”

He was over all of them suggests that the youth was superior to, or in a position above, everyone else. However, the Hebrew text says literally “to all who were before them.” The saying here amplifies all the people used in the previous clause, so to render it as “he was over all of them” is highly questionable. If the subject “all” refers to “all the people,” then we obviously need to identify who is indicated by the phrase all of them. We believe that them in verse 16 points back to the crowds of people mentioned in verse 15a. With regard to the preposition over, we note that the Hebrew text has “before them,” and that this may refer either to place (note New American Bible “over whom he takes precedence”) or to time. On the grounds that “end” in the previous verse indicated time, we determine that we should here translate Revised Standard Version over as “before.” Thus Qoheleth seems to indicate a time before that youth appeared.

Yet those who come later: following through with this time perspective, this phrase points to later generations, as in Revised Standard Version, New American Bible, and others. This gives a possible translation: “… those who were before him and those who came after.”

Will not rejoice in him: the verb rejoice expresses pleasure at what another person does or accomplishes, and here its negative form suggests that public recognition was not given to that young man. New American Bible uses the verb “not applaud” to indicate this lack of popular acceptance. The object of the verb, him, must be defined or made clear, and the context indicates that the “youth” of verse 15 is the one in mind. Revised English Bible suggests “He … will give no joy to those who….” However, it seems more appropriate to view the verb as indicating the lack of appreciation that people have for the young man, rather than whether or not he made them feel happy.

It is obvious that this is a very difficult verse for the interpreter and for the translator because the sentence structure in Hebrew is unclear. We have argued above for a particular interpretation, recognizing that it may differ from many of the traditional translations. We believe, however, that it accurately represents the Hebrew meaning, taking into account more of the evidence, and so commend it to translators.

The following possibilities are offered for translation:

• There was an endless parade of people; those who were before him and those who came after; not one of them appreciated what that youth did.

• [I saw] a vast crowd of people; former generations and generations yet to come, there was nobody who appreciated that youth.

Surely this also is vanity and a striving after wind: in view of what Qoheleth has noticed about the failure of the community to acknowledge the significance of youth, this response is understandable. This is a situation beyond comprehension; it is hevel. For translation of this phrase see notes on 1.14.

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 .