questions the eternality of God: he is the source of the infinite (3:11), and whatever he does lasts for ever (3:14). Even within the next couple of verses Qoheleth tells us that the earth stands for ever, one of the God-created backdrops of passing human existence. The reader will find this interpretation at odds with the many different Bible translations and the views of most other commentators. However, words like ‘vanity, futile, meaningless, absurd, foul, false’ are inconsistent with the explicit