Ecclesiastes 5:18 New English Translation
Enjoy the Fruit of Your Labor
18 I have seen personally what is the only beneficial and appropriate course of action for people:[a]
to eat and drink,[b] and find enjoyment in all their[c] hard work[d] on earth[e]
during the few days of their life that God has given them,
for this is their reward.[f]
Footnotes
- Ecclesiastes 5:18 tn Heb “Behold, that which I have seen, I, good which is beautiful.” The phrase “for people” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity.
- Ecclesiastes 5:18 sn The phrase “to eat and to drink” is a common idiom in Ecclesiastes for a person enjoying the fruit of his labor (e.g., 2:24; 3:13).
- Ecclesiastes 5:18 tn Heb “his,” and three times later in the verse.
- Ecclesiastes 5:18 tn Heb “the toil which one toils.”
- Ecclesiastes 5:18 tn Heb “under the sun.”
- Ecclesiastes 5:18 tn The term חֵלֶק (kheleq, “lot”) has a wide range of meanings: (1) “share of spoils” (Gen 14:24; Num 31:36; 1 Sam 30:24), (2) “portion of food” (Lev 6:10; Deut 18:8; Hab 1:16), (3) “portion [or tract] of land” (Deut 10:9; 12:12; Josh 19:9), (4) “portion” or “possession” (Num 18:20; Deut 32:9), (5) “inheritance” (2 Kgs 9:10; Amos 7:4), (6) “portion” or “award” (Job 20:29; 27:13; 31:2; Isa 17:14) or “profit; reward” (Eccl 2:10, 21; 3:22; 5:17-18; 9:6, 9); see HALOT 323 s.v. II חֵלֶק; BDB 324 s.v. חֵלֶק. Throughout Ecclesiastes, the term is used in reference to man’s temporal profit from his labor, his reward from God (e.g., Eccl 3:22; 9:9).
New English Translation (NET)
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