Ecclesiastes 6:3-5

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. Ecclesiastes 6:3 tn Heb “the days of his years are many.”
2. Ecclesiastes 6:3 tn Heb “he has no burial.” The phrase וְגַם־קְבוּרָה לֹא־הָיְתָה (v^egam q^evurah loʾ hay^etah, “he even has no burial”) is traditionally treated as part of a description of the man’s sorry final state, that is, he is deprived of even a proper burial (KJV, NEB, RSV, NRSV, ASV, NASB, NIV, NJPS, MLB, Moffatt). However, the preceding parallel lines suggest that this a hyperbolic protasis: “If he were to live one hundred years…even if he were never buried [i.e., were to live forever]….” A similar idea occurs elsewhere (e.g., Pss 49:9; 89:48). See D. R. Glenn, “Ecclesiastes,” BKCOT, 990.
3. Ecclesiastes 6:3 tn The noun נֶפֶל (nefel) denotes “miscarriage” and by metonymy of effect, “stillborn child” (e.g., Ps 58:9; Job 3:16; Eccl 6:3); cf. HALOT 711. The noun is related to the verb נָפַל (nafal, “to fall,” but occasionally “to be born”; see Isa 26:18); cf. HALOT 710 s.v. נפל 5.
4. Ecclesiastes 6:3 sn The point of 6:3-6 is that the futility of unenjoyed wealth is worse than the tragedy of being stillborn.
5. Ecclesiastes 6:4 tn Heb “he”; the referent (“the stillborn child”) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
6. Ecclesiastes 6:4 tn The phrase “into the world” does not appear in Hebrew, but is added in the translation for clarity.
7. Ecclesiastes 6:4 sn The birth of the stillborn was in vain—it did it no good to be born.
8. Ecclesiastes 6:4 sn The name of the stillborn is forgotten.
9. Ecclesiastes 6:5 tn Heb “saw the sun.”
10. Ecclesiastes 6:5 tn The word “anything” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity.
11. Ecclesiastes 6:5 sn The Hebrew term translated rest here refers to freedom from toil, anxiety, and misery—part of the miserable misfortune that the miserly man of wealth must endure.