xvi. 13; it has been proposed to read כלעמת, in which case the meaning

will be as in the above――‘precisely as,’ LXX. ὥσπερ γὰρ, but this is to a certain extent to cut the knot rather than untie it. Now עמת occurs separately here only, and if עמת really exists, it is a noun feminine in regimen; now the meaning of עם, which is presented both in ‘people’ and in the preposition ‘_with_,’ gives evidently something ‘collected’ or ‘gathered,’ hence עמה would mean a ‘collection’ or ‘instance,’ and עמת ‘collection’ or ‘instance of,’ and then the exact meaning of כל ע״ will be ‘every instance of his going’), =which he comes= (close relative, the reason of which is now sufficiently evident, meaning, ‘just as he comes;’ he simply goes round in a circle without accomplishing anything, or returns back on his own track in every instance) =so= (emphatic, standing apart from its noun, equal ‘just so’) =does he go, and what profit to him who has toiled= (close relative again, ‘in that he has toiled’) =to the wind?= (which, see chapter i. 6, returns back again as it did before. ‘To’ is here not exactly the same as ‘like to,’ but very near it; but perhaps also because his toil or care is to his spirit, as it has no effect otherwise.)

17 All his days also he │ Moreover, all his days he eateth in darkness, and _he │ consumes in darkness: his hath_ much sorrow and wrath │ disappointment is very with his sickness. │ great indeed: he has │ sickness and is sorry.

(17.) =Moreover, all his days in darkness= (for, of course, all this time he has never any idea which way he was really going, or what he is doing) =he eats= (or consumes), and =disappointment= is =the much= (or is multiplied), =and his sickness and wrath= (קצף is that kind of wrath which arises from anger with a person on account of something wrong. This miserable life is summed up, it appears, in four particulars――(1.) All his days he eats in darkness; (2.) the vexation of disappointment consumes him; (3.) he is sick, or rather, in this general sense, he is afflicted; (4.) he is angry, for those mistakes and disappointments.)

18 ¶ Behold _that_ which I │ Manifest, then, is that real have seen: ¹_it is_ good and │ good which I have observed, comely _for one_ to eat and to │ viz., that it is proper to eat, drink, and to enjoy the good │ and to drink, and so to see of all his labour that he │ good in all one’s toil which taketh under the sun ²all the │ one may toil in this hot days of his life, which God │ work-day world, as the tale of giveth him: for it _is_ his │ one’s daily life. For this is portion. │ what God gives, and this is │ one’s _own_ possession. ¹ _Hebrew_ there is a good │ which is comely, etc. │ │ ² _Hebrew_ the number of the │ days. │

(18.) =Behold= (for this introduces the manifest result of his observation) =that which I have seen=, even =I myself= (the result therefore of his own personal experience), a real =good; which also= (the full relative here has this meaning, because it is repeated) is =suitable to the eating= (_i.e._ active enjoyment), =to the drinking= (which is passive), =and to the seeing of goodness= (the _lamed_ is repeated before each full infinitive, and the abstract טובה follows, which therefore gives the meaning that what he had observed was, ‘that it was proper that one should eat, or one should drink, or should see good in,’ etc., _i.e._ any or all of these); =and= (repeated, meaning ‘_and also_’) =in all his toil which= (contracted relative) =he toils= over (toil is thus made very emphatic, the meaning is, ‘for which one so earnestly or unceasingly toils,’ for observe also, as no nominative is expressed, the verb is impersonal) =under the sun the number= (the root ספר has the meaning to count or enumerate, hence the idea ‘as one is counting one’s days’) of =the days of his life which gives to him= (emphatic) =the Deity= (nominative following verb, with the usual shade of meaning), =because it is his portion= (_i.e._ what belongs to him, but in the future he has no portion, _that_ no man has any right over).

19 Every man also to whom │ And beside, should the Almighty God hath given riches and │ appoint to any individuals wealth, and hath given him │ of the human race, riches, power to eat thereof, and │ possessions, and the power to take his portion, and to │ to enjoy them, and so to make rejoice in his labour; this │ use of their possessions, and _is_ the gift of God. │ rejoice in their toil――this is │ simply a Divine appointment.

(19.) =Moreover, all the man= (_i.e._ every one of the human race considered collectively and in the abstract) =which gives to him= (equivalent to one to whom) =God= (gives or appoints) =wealth and riches, and it is caused him to have power in order to eat= (which we have seen is used as the highest type of enjoyment in the active sense) =of it, and to take his portion= (for a man may possess without being able to eat or enjoy at all, hence the necessity for this clause in the course of the argument; נשא has the meaning to ‘lift up,’ ‘carry,’ or ‘bear’), =and to rejoice in his toil= (which――considering the exact meaning assigned in this book to עמל, the ‘care’ one takes in one’s labour――to rejoice in is to see it come to a successful end); =this same= (the Masorets put here a strong disjunctive accent) =a gift= of =God it is.=

20 ¹For he shall not much │ For the memory of the days of remember the days of his life; │ the past life is not of much because God answereth _him_ in │ importance; but the Almighty the joy of his heart. │ rather exercises men in their │ present emotions. ¹ _Or_, though _he give_ not │ much, _yet_ he remembereth,│ etc. │

(20.) =For not the much he remembers= (but as no nominative precedes or follows, the verb is impersonal) =the days of his life=, and =for= (the second כי introducing a reason in addition to and confirmatory of the first) =the Deity answers= (this is the only place in which the participle hiphil occurs; in one other place the participle pual――Isaiah liii. 4, which differs only from the hiphil in its pointing, occurs evidently in the sense of ‘afflicted,’ which the LXX. render by κακώσει, ‘in affliction.’ The future hiphil is used at 1 Kings viii. 35 and 2 Chronicles vi. 26, parallels, and is translated ‘thou dost afflict them.’ On the whole, however, the meaning, as pointed out by ♦Zöckler, and which the LXX. confirm, seems to be, ‘hears them by vouchsafing;’ and as this answer is painful or joyful, as the case may be, and more usually the former, ‘exercises’ would be a suitable rendering) =in the joy of= (or by means of the joy, בְ־, of the instrument; it is an abstract in regimen, ‘in the joyousness’ or ‘rejoicings of’) =his heart=. Thus, then, the two reasons given stand related thus: Present gratification is the lot of humanity, because the past is not much remembered. The _chief_ remembrance――for this is the meaning of הרבה――is not in the past. The deepest sorrows fade away quickly into forgetfulness; and so also the brightest joys. They have, no doubt, some influence by recollection, but not _much_. And thus the Deity, or God regarded as the supreme providential ruler, exercises us. He responds to our anxieties, afflicts us, or chastens us, or causes us pleasure by means of joys given or taken away, as the case may be. Again, these are spoken of as joys of our _hearts_, or of our inward desires and consciousness, which is the meaning of ‘heart’ in this book; our _emotional nature_, as the idea would stand expressed in the nomenclature of modern philosophy.

♦ “Zökler” replaced with “Zöckler” for consistency