Ecclesiastes 10:19 New English Translation

¹⁹Feasts^[a] are made^[b] for laughter,
and wine makes life merry,^[c]
but money is the answer for^[d] everything.

Ecclesiastes 10:19 tn Heb “bread.” The term לֶחֶם (lekhem) is used literally of “bread” and figuratively (i.e., by metonymy) for a “feast” (BDB 536-37 s.v. לֶחֶם). BDB suggests that עֹשִׂיה לֶחֶם (ʿosih lekhem) in Eccl 10:19 means “make a feast” (BDB 537 s.v. לֶחֶם 1.a). This obscure line has occasioned numerous proposals: “a feast is made for laughter” (KJV, ASV, NIV); “feasts are made for laughter” (NRSV); “men feast for merrymaking” (Moffatt); “men prepare a meal for enjoyment” (NASB); “the table has its pleasures” (NEB); “they [i.e., rulers of v. 16] make a banquet for revelry” (NJPS); “people prepare a banquet for enjoyment” (MLB); “for laughter they make bread and wine, that the living may feast” (Douay); “bread is made for laughter” (RSV); “bread [and oil] call forth merriment” (NAB).
Ecclesiastes 10:19 tn The subject of the verb is not specified. When active verbs have an unspecified subject, they are often used in a passive sense: “Bread [feasts] are made….”
Ecclesiastes 10:19 tn Heb “and wine gladdens life.”
Ecclesiastes 10:19 tn Or “and [they think that] money is the answer for everything.”

New English Translation (NET)