Ecclesiastes 4:8

Footnotes

1. 29 Heb “There is one and there is not a second.”
2. 30 Heb “son nor brother.” The terms “son” and “brother” are examples of synecdoche of specific (species) for the general (genus). The term “son” is put for offspring, and “brother” for siblings (e.g., Prov 10:1).
3. 31 Heb “his eye.” The term “eye” is a synecdoche of part (i.e., the eye) for the whole (i.e., the whole person); see E. W. Bullinger, Figures of Speech, .
4. 32 The phrase “he laments” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity. The direct discourse (“For whom am I toiling and depriving myself of pleasure?”) is not introduced with an introductory structure. As in the , some translations suggest that these words are spoken by a lonely workaholic, e.g., “He says …” (, , , , ). Others suggest that this is a question that he never asks himself, e.g., “Yet he never asks himself …” (, , , , , , ).
5. 33 Heb “my soul.”
6. 34 This rhetorical question is an example of negative affirmation, that is, it expects a negative answer: “No one!” (see E. W. Bullinger, Figures of Speech, ).
7. 35 The adjective רָע (ra’, “evil”) here means “misfortune” ( רָעָה 4) or “injustice, wrong” ( רָעָה 2.b). The phrase עִנְיַן רָע (’inyan ra’, “unhappy business; rotten business; grievous task”) is used only in Ecclesiastes (1:13; 2:23, 26; 3:10; 4:8; 5:2, 13; 8:16). It is parallel with הֶבֶל (hevel, “futile”) in 4:8, and describes a “grave misfortune” in 5:13. The noun עִנְיַן (’inyan, “business”) refers to something that keeps a person occupied or busy: “business; affair; task; occupation” ( עִנְיָן; 775 עִנְיָן). The related verb עָנָה (’anah) means “to be occupied; to be busy with (בְּ, bet),” e.g., Eccl 1:13; 3:10; 5:19 ( III עָנָה; 775 II עָנָה). The noun is from the Aramaic loanword עִנְיָנָא (’inyana’, “concern; care.” The verb is related to the Aramaic verb “to try hard,” the Arabic verb “to be busily occupied; to worry; to be a matter of concern,” and the Old South Arabic root “to be troubled; to strive with” ( III ענה). עִנְיָן renders the phrase as “unhappy business” here. The phrase עִנְיַן רָע, is treated creatively by English versions: , “sore travail”; “sad travail”; “grievous vexation”; , , “unhappy business”; , “sorry business”; “miserable business”; “worthless task”; “grievous task”; “sorry situation”; “depressing.”