In the book of life, the answers aren’t in the back: Qohelet 1:2-11

Qohelet examined the book of life, and came to Charlie Brown’s conclusion, cited above. Below the jump, text, translation, and notes.

Qohelet 1:2-11

1:2      הֲבֵל הֲבָלִים               אָמַר הַקֹּהֶלֶת   

          הֲבֵל הֲבָלִים               הַכֹּל הָבֶל׃      

1:3      מַה־יִּתְרוֹן לָאָדָם          בְּכָל־עָמָל        שֶׁיַּעֲמֹל תַּחַת הַשָּׁמָיִם׃

A perfect crock,                       said the Philosopher.
A perfect crock.                       It’s all a crock.
What does man get                  for all the trouble                     he takes under heaven?

1:4      דּוֹר הֹלֵךְ    וְדוֹר בָּא                         וְהָאָרֶץ לְעוֹלָם עֹמָדֶת׃  

1:5      וְזֹרֵחַ הַשֶּׁמֶשׁ    וּבָא הַשָּׁמֶשׁ              וְאֶל־מְקוֹמוֹ שׁוֹאֵף

1:6      זוֹרֵחַ הוּא שָׁם׃    הוֹלֵךְ אֶל־דָּרוֹם         וְסוֹבֵב אֶל־צָפוֹן          

 

          סוֹבֵב סֹבֵב    הוֹלֵךְ הָרוּחַ                  וְעַל־סְבִיבֹתָיו שָׁב הָרוּחַ׃

1:7      כָּל־הַנְּחָלִים הֹלְכִים אֶל־הַיָּם                וְהַיָּם אֵינֶנּוּ מָלֵא

          אֶל־מְקוֹם שֶׁהַנְּחָלִים הֹלְכִים               שָׁם הֵם שָׁבִים לָלָכֶת׃

 

A generation comes,                a generation goes,                   the earth subsists forever.
The sun comes out,                  the sun goes in,                        it pants back to its place.
From there it comes out,         goes to the south,                     and rounds to the north.

Round and round        the wind goes,             on its rounds the wind returns.
All rivers go into the sea,                                 and the sea is never full.
The place where the rivers go,                        there they go again.

1:8      כָּל־הַדְּבָרִים יְגֵעִים                 לֹא־יוּכַל אִישׁ לְדַבֵּר    

          לֹא־תִשְׂבַּע עַיִן לִרְאוֹת            וְלֹא־תִמָּלֵא אֹזֶן מִשְּׁמֹעַ׃         

 

1:9      מַה־שֶּׁהָיָה                 הוּא שֶׁיִּהְיֶה     

          וּמַה־שֶׁנַּעֲשָׂה              הוּא שֶׁיֵּעָשֶׂה   

        וְאֵין כָּל־חָדָשׁ             תַּחַת הַשָּׁמֶשׁ׃  

 

1:10    יֵשׁ דָּבָר שֶׁיֹּאמַר                   רְאֵה־זֶה חָדָשׁ הוּא      

         כְּבָר הָיָה לְעֹלָמִים                 אֲשֶׁר הָיָה מִלְּפָנֵנוּ׃      

 

1:11    אֵין זִכְרוֹן לָרִאשֹׁנִים                וְגַם לָאַחֲרֹנִים שֶׁיִּהְיוּ    

          לֹא־יִהְיֶה לָהֶם זִכָּרוֹן               עִם שֶׁיִּהְיוּ לָאַחֲרֹנָה׃    

All things are wearisome,                                no one can put them into words.
The eye is not satisfied by their sight,              the ear never full from hearing them.

That which happened,             that’s what will happen.
That which occurred,              that’s what will occur.
There is nothing new               under the sun.

Something of which one might say,                 “Look, this is new!”:
it already happened in ages                            that happened before us.

There is no memory of earlier things              or of future things to come.
There will be no memory of them                    among those to come in the future.

Notes

For the sense in which hebel in Qohelet works like “crock’ in English, go here. Against the apparent Vorlage of the Old Greek, MT in 1:2 has קֹהֶלֶת without the article (arguably, MT assimilates to 1:1 and elsewhere). The set of denotative and connotative meanings הַקֹּהֶלֶת was meant to conjure up is unknown to us. In German, there is a long tradition of rendering הַקֹּהֶלֶת with Der Prediger, “the Preacher.” Not unlike “the Teacher” (NRSV) and “the Speaker” (REB), “the Preacher” moves in the direction of specifying what Qohelet does within the world of the text. I render “the Philosopher” in an attempt to approximate by means of a title what Qohelet was at the intersection of the world of the text and its historical milieu, Jerusalem of the late Persian or early Hellenistic periods, of which the text is an expression. Qohelet is a reasonable facsimile of a philosopher in the Greek sense from that period and place.

Against the presumed parent text of Aquila and the Syriac, MT 1:3 adds a 3 sg suffix to עמל (a clarifying expansion). Against the Syriac, MT 1:3 reads, in lieu of השמים, השמש (arguably, MT assimilates to the usual). MT:

מַה־יִּתְרוֹן לָאָדָם בְּכָל־עֲמָלוֹ שֶׁיַּעֲמֹל תַּחַת הַשָּׁמֶשׁ׃      

What does man get for all his trouble he takes under the sun?

The disambiguating translation of 1:11 would go like this:

There is no memory of earlier things              or will there be, of future things to come.
There will be no memory of either                  among those to come in the future. 

Comments

[Bob MacDonald]

I like the way you've shown the text. I really must get my library card renewed before I go on with my work on the five Megillot. But it's still fun to read them and defer the refining of my knowledge.

[JohnFH]

Thanks, Bob. I'm glad you found it helpful.