Ecclesiastes 1:14 New English Translation
14 I reflected on everything that is accomplished by man[a] on earth,[b]
and I concluded: Everything[c] he has accomplished[d] is futile[e]—like chasing the wind![f]
Footnotes
- Ecclesiastes 1:14 tn The phrase “by man” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity.
- Ecclesiastes 1:14 tn Heb “under the sun.”
- Ecclesiastes 1:14 tn As mentioned in the note on “everything” in 1:2, the term הַכֹּל (hakkol, “everything”) is often limited in reference to the specific topic at hand in the context (e.g., BDB 482 s.v. כֹּל 2). The argument of 1:12-15, like 1:3-11, focuses on secular human achievement. This is clear from the repetition of the root עָשַׂה (ʿasah, “do, work, accomplish, achieve”) in 1:12-13.
- Ecclesiastes 1:14 tn The phrase “he has accomplished” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity.
- Ecclesiastes 1:14 tn This usage of הֶבֶל (hevel) denotes “futile, profitless, fruitless” (e.g., 2 Kgs 17:15; Ps 78:33; Prov 13:11; 21:6; Eccl 1:2, 14; 2:1, 14-15; 4:8; Jer 2:5; 10:3; Lam 4:17; see HALOT 236-37 s.v. I הֶבֶל; BDB 210-11 s.v. I הֶבֶל). The term is used with the simile “like striving after the wind” (רְעוּת רוּחַ, reʿut ruakh)—a graphic picture of an expenditure of effort in vain because no one can catch the wind by chasing it (e.g., 1:14, 17; 2:11, 17, 26; 4:4, 6, 16; 6:9; 7:14). When used in this sense, the term is often used with the following synonyms: לְתֹהוּ (letohu, “for nothing, in vain, for no reason”; Isa 49:4); רִיק (riq, “profitless; useless”; Isa 30:7; Eccl 6:11); לֹא הוֹעִיל (“worthless, profitless”; Is 30:6; 57:12; Jer 16:19); “what profit?” (מַה־יִּתְרוֹןֹ, mah yitron); and “no profit” (אֵין יִתְרוֹן, en yitron; e.g., 2:11; 3:19; 6:9). It is also used in antithesis to terms connoting value: טוֹב (tov, “good, benefit, advantage”) and יֹתְרוֹן (yoteron, “profit, advantage, gain”). Despite everything that man has accomplished in history, it is ultimately futile because nothing on earth really changes.
- Ecclesiastes 1:14 tn Heb “striving of wind.” The word “like” does not appear in the Hebrew text; it has been added in the translation to make the comparative notion clear.
New English Translation (NET)
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