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It is better to be content with[a] what the eyes can see[b]
than for one’s heart always to crave more.[c]
This continual longing[d] is futile—like[e] chasing the wind.

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Footnotes

  1. Ecclesiastes 6:9 tn The phrase “to be content with” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity.
  2. Ecclesiastes 6:9 tn The expression מַרְאֵה עֵינַיִם (marʾeh ʿenayim, “the seeing of the eyes”) is a metonymy of cause (i.e., seeing an object) for effect (i.e., being content with what the eyes can see); see E. W. Bullinger, Figures of Speech, 552-54.
  3. Ecclesiastes 6:9 tn Heb “the roaming of the soul.” The expression מֵהֲלָךְ־נָפֶשׁ (mehalakh nafesh, “the roaming of the soul”) is a metonymy for unfulfilled desires. The term “soul” (נֶפֶשׁ, nefesh) is used as a metonymy of association for man’s desires and appetites (BDB 660 s.v. נֶפֶשׁ 5.c; 6.a). This also involves the personification of the roving appetite as “roving” (מֵהֲלָךְ); see BDB 235 s.v. הָלַךְ II.3.f; 232 I.3.
  4. Ecclesiastes 6:9 tn The phrase “continual longing” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity.
  5. Ecclesiastes 6:9 tn The term “like” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity and smoothness.

Better what the eye sees
    than the roving of the appetite.
This too is meaningless,
    a chasing after the wind.(A)

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