CHAPTER IX.

FOR all this ¹I considered │ FOR with respect to all this, in my heart even to declare │ I have laid to my heart that all this, that the righteous, │ which is to be deduced from it and the wise, and their works, │ all, which is, that right and _are_ in the hand of God: no │ wisdom, and any service they man knoweth either love or │ can render, are in the hand of hatred _by_ all _that is_ │ the Almighty, and whether [an before them. │ event be an indication of His] │ love or displeasure either, no ¹ _Hebrew_ I gave _or_ set │ man knows from anything he sees to my heart. │ before him,

IX. (1.) =For with respect to all this, I have given it to= (אל, not ‎‏את, which the LXX. render by εἰς) =my heart, and to sift out= (occurs here only, but compare chapter iii. 18) =with respect to all this= (but the LXX., dividing the words differently, evidently read ולבי ראת כל זה, which would mean, ‘when that heart was seeing all this.’ The number of various readings――see Stier and Theile, _Polyglot_――show that this passage was early one of difficulty. The rendering of Symmachus, preserved by Jerome, ‘omnia ita statui [fort. ἔταξα] in corde meo ut ventilarem universa,’ conveys the meaning; which is, that Koheleth set to his heart that which is the result when the matter is entirely sifted) =which is the righteous and the wise= (generic and plural, all those things which are right or wise generally; ‘right and wisdom,’ as we speak, is the meaning) =and their works= (_i.e._ what they produce, or, better still, their ‘services’) are =in the hand of the Deity, also love= (in the abstract), =also hatred= (also abstract, and גם being repeated gives the idea of both love and hatred too) =is nothing, knowing the man= (the negative belongs to the noun, not to the verb, and so the meaning must be ‘there is _no man_ who does know.’ Moreover, the two nominatives absolute, ‘love’ and ‘hatred,’ are the subjects of the whole sentence, ‘as to love or hatred either, there is no man who knows,’ or, better still, ‘to whom is made known,’ giving the import to the participle) =the whole= (generic) =before them= (distributive plural, any of them, equivalent then ‘to anything which is before them’).

2 All _things come_ alike │ evanescence being that which to all: _there is_ one event │ belongs to all. That which to the righteous, and to the │ happens is just the same to wicked; to the good, and to │ the right and to the wrong, to the clean, and to the unclean; │ good [_and to bad_, LXX.], and to him that sacrificeth, and │ to clean and to unclean, and to him that sacrificeth not: │ to the sacrificer as to one as _is_ the good, so _is_ │ who never sacrifices; as the the sinner; _and_ he that │ good, so the erring sinner, sweareth, as _he_ that feareth │ the forsworn as though he had an oath. │ feared the oath.

(2.) =The whole= (but all the ancient versions read here הבל, ‘_vanity_,’ and this makes better sense; the error, for such we believe it to be, in the Masoretic text, was one so likely to occur, that, considering the strong weight of testimony in favour of the LXX., and the far better sense it makes with the context, we may well adopt it. As an additional reason for following the LXX., we notice that the Syriac reads (‡ Syriac phrase) ‘all that is before him is vanity, all just as that which is to all,’ combining, therefore, both readings together. Thus it appears that the variation in the texts was a very ancient one. If this reading be adopted, then combining it with the words which follow) =as= (or like this same) =to all= (the meaning will be ‘transitoriness is exactly the same to all,’ or ‘all alike are equally transitory.’ If, however, we retain the Masoretic text and pointing, a good sense is made. ‘_The whole_ is as it were to all,’ namely) =a happening= which is =one to the righteous, and to the impious, to the good= (the LXX. add here _to the bad_), =to the clean, and to the unclean, to the sacrificer, and to one who has not sacrificed; as is the good so the sinner= (but general, including things as well as persons), =the forsworn as one who an oath fears.=

3 This _is_ an evil among │ This evil is in all which is all _things_ that are done │ performed in this work-day under the sun, that _there is_ │ world: that there is but one one event unto all: yea, also │ event to all, and so the heart the heart of the sons of men │ of the human race overflows is full of evil, and madness │ with wrong, and foolish _is_ in their heart while they │ anticipations are in their live, and after that _they go_ │ inmost hearts while they live, to the dead. │ and what succeeds――it belongs │ to the _dead_.

(3.) =This wrong= is _in all which is done_ (niphal, and therefore objective; men both do and suffer as though this were so) = under the sun, how a happening= which is =one= (_i.e._ the same) =to all= (the force of this reasoning is made apparent by what follows, as there is no visible reward to these righteous persons as compared with the wicked, wicked men presume); =and moreover, the heart of the sons of Adam is full of= (‘overflows with’ would represent the idea) =evil, and false expectations= (הוללות occurs chapter i. 17――see references; the meaning deduced exactly suits this passage; it is the false hope begotten of an evil action, a crime worse than a blunder, to invert a celebrated aphorism) =in their hearts= (לבב is ‘the inmost heart’――see Concordance, _sub voce_, for the shade of difference between לב and ‎‏לבב), =in their lives, and their future= (_i.e._ what comes afterwards) =belongs to= (the preposition is אל, which the LXX. note, and render by πρὸς) =the dead= (generic, with the article).

4 ¶ For to him that is │ For whoever he may be, joined to all the living there │ he chooses altogether as is hope: for a living dog is │ regarding the _living_, this better than a dead lion. │ being his anticipation: for to │ a dog alive it is indeed better │ than the lion when he is dead.

(4.) =For whoever= (interrogative pronoun followed by אשר, compare Exodus xxxii. 33; it has here the sense, ‘For whoever he be’) =chooses= (the Kri reads ‘is joined to,’ which the LXX., Syriac, Targum, and Symmachus all have; but this and the pointing as a pual is merely a Masoretic conjecture: it would be better with the LXX. to take it in an active sense, κοινωνεῖ, ‘participates.’ The Chetib is perfectly intelligible, however, and is to be preferred) =towards= (אל, as in verse 3) =all= (but כל is without the article; hence it has the meaning, the ‘whole of’) =the lives= (with the article, and hence generic, ‘lives generally.’ Thus the meaning is, ‘For whoever he be, he is one who chooses entirely with relation to the living’), =it is= (יש, it exists as such) =an expectation= (בטחון, occurs 2 Kings xviii. 19, and its parallel Isaiah xxxvi. 4 besides this place only, in the meaning of a ‘confidence’ or ‘expectation,’ and this meaning gives excellent sense here: ‘is his expectation that he will _live:_’ no man makes plans on the supposition that he is going to _die_; he may indeed provide for others after he is dead, but the horizon of his own hopes is necessarily bounded by his life). =For= (an additional reason confirming the above) =to a dog alive it is= (emphatic) =good above the lion= (with the article, because this is generic; it is not _a_ lion, but lion qualities generally), =the dead= (again generic, for the same reason――‘a live dog is better than the lion when he is dead,’ is the exact turn of thought).

5 For the living know that │ Yet the living are quite aware they shall die: but the dead │ that they shall die; but the know not any thing, neither │ dead are not aware of anything; have they any more a reward; │ and they can have no further for the memory of them is │ recompense, because a forgotten forgotten. │ thing is their memorial:

(5.) =For the living= ones =are knowing that they will die= (this is an additional reason to the above, and so may be rendered, ‘but the living are certain that they will _die_‘), =but the dead= (plural, with the article, ‘the dead persons generally’) =are not those who are knowing anything= (it is not here, be it observed, the existence of knowledge on the part of the dead which is denied, but that, from the author’s point of view, the dead are persons who do not know anything: an unevangelic sense has been given to this passage by not attending to this distinction), =and there is nothing further to them= (emphatic) which is a =hire= (or a reward in this life accruing to them as a recompense for their toil), =because forgotten= (niphal in its usual objective sense) is =their remembrance.=

6 Also their love, and their │ and then their love and their hatred, and their envy, is now │ hatred also, and their envy as perished; neither have they │ well, as far as this Present any more a portion for ever in │ is concerned, are perished; any _thing_ that is done under │ and there is no further the sun. │ participation for them in the │ age, in anything that may be │ done within this work-day world.

(6.) =Moreover their love, moreover their hatred, moreover their envy= (the triple repetition of גם brings this word into prominence, equivalent to ‘their love also; yes, their hatred and envy too’) =in this present= (כבר, see chapter i. 10, references; the word occurs again in its technical sense of the ‘present state of things,’ and makes excellent sense here), =perish= (abstract ‘is a thing perished’) =in all which= (full relative) =is done under the sun.= On this follows the most touching piece of sarcasm in the whole work. There is a force and pungency about it which is very striking.

7 ¶ Go thy way, eat thy │ Go then, eat thy bread with bread with joy, and drink thy │ gladness, and drink in good wine with a merry heart; for │ heart thy wine, if in the God now accepteth thy works. │ present the Almighty prospers │ thy works.

(7.) =Go, eat= (_i.e._ enjoy) in =pleasure thy bread, and drink in heart= of =good thy wine; for so in the present hath prospered the Deity thy workings.=

8 Let thy garments be always │ At every opportunity let thy white; and let thy head lack │ garments be white, and the oil no ointment. │ to thy head do not spare.

(8.) =In all season= (עת, a providential season――see chapter iii. 1, 19) =let them be= (even) =thy garments white= (it is hardly possible here, when we remember the constant use in Scripture of _white_ garments, not to discover one of those hidden allusions with which this book abounds to a pure as alone a happy life; the garments of the sensualist and drunkard are, in the emphatic language of the apostle, ‘spotted with _the flesh_’), =and oil= (see chapter vii. 1, as the symbol of luxury and wealth) =on thy head do not spare= (chapter iv. 8; ‘do not stint’ or ‘save it as for another time,’ is the meaning: ‘use it when you have the occasion’).

9 ¹Live joyfully with the │ Enjoy life with that woman wife whom thou lovest all the │ whom thou lovest, all the days days of the life of thy vanity,│ of thy evanescent life, which which he hath given thee under │ He grants thee in this hot the sun, all the days of thy │ work-day world,――all these vanity: for that _is_ thy │ evanescent days, I say, for portion in _this_ life, and in │ _that_ is all thou canst thy labour which thou takest │ possess in thy life, and from under the sun. │ that toil thyself art toiling │ ever in this same work-day ¹ _Hebrew_ See _or_ enjoy │ world. life. │

(9.) =See lives together with the woman which thou lovest= (it is to be remarked here that Koheleth speaks of a woman in the singular; the idea thus implied is cognate with that of the white garments, it is pure domestic love) =all the days of the lives of thy vanity= (_i.e._ thy evanescent life) =which= He =gives to thee= (the nominative is no doubt the Deity; but as this nominative is so far off, the verb becomes almost an impersonal) =under the sun all the days of thy vanity= (repeated); =for that same is thy portion in lives in thy toil which thou= (emphatic) =toilest at under the sun= (repeated, and therefore having the meaning, ‘under that same sun,’ the whole being thus strictly limited to the horizon of this world).

10 Whatsoever thy hand │ All that thy hand finds to do, findeth to do, do _it_ with │ to the utmost do it, because thy might; for _there is_ │ there is no work, nor device, no work, nor device, nor │ nor wisdom, nor knowledge in knowledge, nor wisdom, in the │ the grave, and that is whither grave, whither thou goest. │ thou art hastening.

(10.) =All which shall find thy hand in order to do= (that is, everything which it is in thy power to perform in regard of the above), =in thy might do it, because= there is =nothing= of =a work, or a contrivance, or a knowledge, or a wisdom= (all these being without the article, and singular) =in Sheol, which= (is the ‘place,’ or ‘end,’ etc.; for we have in English to supply some general word here) =thou= (emphatic) =art going unto= (the meaning is, ‘and _that_ is whither _thou_ art going unto’).

11 ¶ I returned, and saw │ But to return, I perceived under the sun, that the race │ how in this work-day world that _is_ not to the swift, nor the │ not to the swift ones is the battle to the strong, neither │ race, nor to the strong ones yet bread to the wise, nor yet │ the battle, nor even to wise riches to men of understanding,│ ones bread, nor yet to prudent nor yet favour to men of skill;│ ones wealth, nor yet to the but time and chance happeneth │ instructed ones favour. For to them all. │ time and chance happens with │ regard to them all.

(11.) =I turned=, and =see under the sun= (‘see’ is rightly joined by the accents to the word which follows it; it is, as this formula of introduction shows, another aspect of the same truth as that set forth above) =how not to swift= is =the race= (מרוץ, occurs here only), =and not= to =mighty ones the war, and also not to wise ones bread, and also not to prudent ones= (occurs Genesis xli. 33 of Joseph, and 1 Kings iii. 12 of Solomon) =an increase, and not to knowing ones a favour=: (these three nouns, ‘bread,’ etc., are singular and without the article, the other two are with it), =for time= (the providential season, that is) and =chance= (occurs 1 Kings v. 4 as a noun only; the meaning of the verb, which occurs frequently, is, ‘to meet,’ ‘to approach’) =happens with respect to= (את, which the LXX. notice by making the verb compound, συναντήσεται) =all.=

12 For man also knoweth not │ For so also Humanity knows not his time: as the fishes that │ its time, but just like fishes are taken in an evil net, and │ which have been caught in a as the birds that are caught │ net, or birds held fast in a in the snare; so _are_ the │ snare, just like them the sons sons of men snared in an evil │ of men are ensnared in some time, when it falleth suddenly │ evil time, as it falls upon upon them. │ them――suddenly.

(12.) =For also not knows= (it is the verb which is here negatived) =the man= (humanity) =his time= (with את, which the LXX. note by the article), =as fishes which may be caught= (contract relative and plural niphal) =in a net, the evil one= (an evil net), =and like also birds= when =caught in a snare= (notice the difference between שנאחזים, which is niphal participle plural, occurs Genesis xxii. 13, and האחזות, pual participle, ‘the fishes are _caught_, the birds are _held_’); =like them= _are_ =ensnared= (יוקשים, see Deuteronomy vii. 25) =the sons of the Adam to a time= (which is) =evil, as when it falls upon them suddenly.= (It would result from this reasoning that wisdom is of no use at all; but in order to meet this objection, Koheleth cites an instance where it was of great value.)

13 ¶ This wisdom have I seen │ Nevertheless, I have observed also under the sun, and it │ the following instance of _seemed_ great unto me: │ wisdom in this work-day world, │ and which appeared to me of │ great moment.

(13.) =Moreover, this I have seen= (_i.e._ an instance of) =a wisdom under the sun= (_i.e._ in this world, where wisdom avails so little), =and great= (but the noun is an abstract, ‘of great value’ or importance, ‘a really great thing’) =is it with regard to me= (LXX., πρὸς, _i.e._ he considered that, notwithstanding the observation above, he ought to take it as of considerable account; here was an unexpected deliverance, by means of wisdom, from one of those snares, מצודים, spoken of above).

14 _There was_ a little │ There was a little city, and city, and few men within it; │ the men therein were a few; and and there came a great king │ there came a great king against against it, and besieged it, │ it, and invested it, and built and built great bulwarks │ a net-work [of fortifications] against it: │ around it.

(14.) =A city small, and the men= (אנשים, ‘weak men’) =in it= (emphatic, ‘in that same’) =a few, and there came against it a king= (who was) =great, and he surrounded it, and built over against it networks very great ones;=

15 Now there was found in it │ Now there was found therein a poor wise man, and he by his │ a poor wise working man, and wisdom delivered the city; yet │ _he_ it was who saved the city no man remembered that same │ by his wisdom; yet men did poor man. │ not remember that same person │ because he was a poor working │ man.

(15.) =and was found in it= (again emphatic) =a man= (איש, the rest are אנשים) =poor= (chapter iv. 13, and here only, מסכן, LXX. πένητα. The meaning of πένης is that kind of poverty which seeks its food by labour, and differs from πτωχὸς, which signifies a mendicant. Fuerst gives the derivation, ס־כן, of the root, which would imply such a meaning as the LXX. have), =wise= (there is no copula between these two qualifying words. It is not a poor _and_ wise man, but a man economically wise――who could make his wisdom go a long way), =and saved= (even) =he= (the turn of meaning is, that the safety of the city was found in himself, as the embodiment of wisdom) =the city= (with את emphatic, which the LXX. notice by the rendering, δ ι α σώσῃ αὐτὸς τ ὴ ν πόλιν) =in his wisdom; and a man= (not exactly ‘humanity,’ which we have seen would require the article, but ‘man’ as representing the individuals generally) =did not remember= (the verb follows the nominative), =with respect to that man= (את, with the article, which the LXX. notice by σὺν, with a _genitive_! but in reality the genitive is governed by the verb, σὺν being adverbial), =the poor one, even that same=. (The shade of meaning given by the article is, that mankind, as a rule, do not adequately remember, and so neither reward, wisdom when associated with poverty. ‘The poor inventor and his sorrows,’ have passed into a proverb.)

16 Then said I, Wisdom │ Yet _I_ should say myself that _is_ better than strength: │ wisdom was a real good, and nevertheless the poor man’s │ better than strength, yet the wisdom _is_ despised, and his │ wisdom of the poor working man words are not heard. │ is despised, and his words just │ those which are not listened to.

(16.) =Then said I= (in opposition to ‘man,’ above), =good= is =wisdom above might; and the wisdom of the poor= (with the article) =is despised, and his words= (or reasonings, used still in the technical sense common to this book) are those =which are not listened to.=

17 The words of wise _men │ These words of the wise in are_ heard in quiet more than │ a silence are heard: the cry of him that ruleth │ among fools. │ More than the shriek of a │ ruler with fools.

(17.) =Those words= (repeated) of =wise men in rest are heard= (but notice בנחת is an ambiguous word,――see Job xxxvi. 16; the root נחת is to press down, and hence the equivoke. These words of the wise man in ‘a going down’ are those which are heard, _i.e._ in a ‘time of pressure,’ or in distress; ‘in quiet,’ is also a meaning, and a very good one, being that which expresses, without doubt, the main intent in the passage) =above the cry= (Genesis xviii. 20. Fuerst considers that צעק is an older form and זעק modern, yet both are used in Genesis xviii. 20, 21, but the references will be seen to support the idea that זעקה is the ‘cry of emotion,’ while צעקה is any ‘loud cry;’ if so, there is a special reason why it should be used in this place. Again, מזעקה might be a participle meaning a ‘cry of distress,’ thus giving force to the equivoke), =of a ruler with the befooled.=

18 Wisdom _is_ better than │ A real good is wisdom above weapons of war: but one sinner │ weapons of fight: but a single destroyeth much good. │ erring sinner destroys this │ good very much.

(18.) =A good= (repeated, so that it corroborates what is found in verse 16) is =wisdom above weapons= of =an encounter, and sinning once= (in the sense of making a wicked mistake, or ‘one wicked mistaker,’ either person or thing) =destroys good the much.=