קֹהֶלֶת 2
| אמרתי אני בלבי לכה נא אנסכה בשמחה וראה בטוב והנה גם הוא הבל | 1 |
[Then] I said to myself, “Okay, I will try to do everything that I enjoy. I will find out whether doing what I enjoy can truly enable me to be happy.” But I found out that doing that was also useless/senseless.
| לשחוק אמרתי מהולל ולשמחה מה זה עשה | 2 |
[So] I said [to myself], “It is foolish to laugh [all the time], and continually doing what I enjoy does not seem to bring any lasting benefit.”
| תרתי בלבי למשוך ביין את בשרי ולבי נהג בחכמה ולאחז בסכלות--עד אשר אראה אי זה טוב לבני האדם אשר יעשו תחת השמים מספר ימי חייהם | 3 |
[So], after thinking a lot about it, I decided to (cheer myself/cause myself to be happy) by drinking [a lot of] wine. [So] while I was still trying to be wise, I decided to do things that [many] people do to be happy during the short time that they are alive on the earth.
| הגדלתי מעשי בניתי לי בתים נטעתי לי כרמים | 4 |
I did great things: I [caused] houses to be built for myself and vineyards to be planted.
| עשיתי לי גנות ופרדסים ונטעתי בהם עץ כל פרי | 5 |
I [told my workers] to make gardens and parks. [Then] I [told them to] fill the gardens with many kinds of fruit trees.
| עשיתי לי ברכות מים--להשקות מהם יער צומח עצים | 6 |
I [told them to] build reservoirs to store water to irrigate the fruit trees.
| קניתי עבדים ושפחות ובני בית היה לי גם מקנה בקר וצאן הרבה היה לי מכל שהיו לפני בירושלם | 7 |
I bought male and female slaves, and babies [who later became my slaves] were born in my palace. I also owned more livestock than any of the previous kings in Jerusalem had owned.
| כנסתי לי גם כסף וזהב וסגלת מלכים והמדינות עשיתי לי שרים ושרות ותענגות בני האדם--שדה ושדות | 8 |
I also accumulated large amounts of silver and gold [that were paid to me] from the treasures of kings and rulers of provinces. [I hired] men and women to sing for me, and I had many (concubines/slave wives) who gave me [much] pleasure [EUP].
| וגדלתי והוספתי מכל שהיה לפני בירושלם אף חכמתי עמדה לי | 9 |
So, I became greater than anyone else who had ever lived in Jerusalem, and I was [very] wise.
| וכל אשר שאלו עיני לא אצלתי מהם לא מנעתי את לבי מכל שמחה כי לבי שמח מכל עמלי וזה היה חלקי מכל עמלי | 10 |
I got everything [LIT] that I [SYN] saw and wanted. I did everything [LIT] that I thought would enable me to be happy. All those things that I [SYN] enjoyed were [like] a reward for all my hard work.
| ופניתי אני בכל מעשי שעשו ידי ובעמל שעמלתי לעשות והנה הכל הבל ורעות רוח ואין יתרון תחת השמש | 11 |
[But] then I thought about all the hard work that I [SYN] had done [to get all those things], and none of it seems to bring any lasting benefit [DOU]. It was all [like] chasing the wind.
| ופניתי אני לראות חכמה והוללות וסכלות כי מה האדם שיבוא אחרי המלך את אשר כבר עשוהו | 12 |
Then I started to think about being wise, and [also about] being foolish [DOU]. [I said to myself, “I certainly do not think that] [RHQ] the next king will be able to do anything better than I can.”
| וראיתי אני שיש יתרון לחכמה מן הסכלות--כיתרון האור מן החשך | 13 |
And I thought, “Surely it is better to be wise than to be foolish, like light is better than darkness,
| החכם עיניו בראשו והכסיל בחשך הולך וידעתי גם אני שמקרה אחד יקרה את כלם | 14 |
[because] wise people [walk in the daylight and] [IDM] can see where they are going, but foolish people walk in the darkness [and cannot see where they are going].” But I [also] realized that both wise people and foolish people eventually die.
| ואמרתי אני בלבי כמקרה הכסיל גם אני יקרני ולמה חכמתי אני אז יתר ודברתי בלבי שגם זה הבל | 15 |
So I said to myself, “I am very wise, but I will [die at the end of my life], like foolish people do. So (how has it benefited me to be very wise?/it certainly has not benefited me to be very wise [RHQ]). I do not understand why [people consider that] it is valuable to be wise.
| כי אין זכרון לחכם עם הכסיל לעולם בשכבר הימים הבאים הכל נשכח ואיך ימות החכם עם הכסיל | 16 |
Wise people and foolish people all die. And after we die, we will all eventually be forgotten [DOU].”
| ושנאתי את החיים--כי רע עלי המעשה שנעשה תחת השמש כי הכל הבל ורעות רוח | 17 |
So I hated being alive, because everything that we do here on the earth [MTY] distresses me. It all seems to be useless [like] chasing the wind.
| ושנאתי אני את כל עמלי שאני עמל תחת השמש שאניחנו לאדם שיהיה אחרי | 18 |
I [also began to] hate all the hard work that I had done, because [when I die], everything [that I have acquired] will belong to the next king.
| ומי יודע החכם יהיה או סכל וישלט בכל עמלי שעמלתי ושחכמתי תחת השמש גם זה הבל | 19 |
And (who/no one) knows [RHQ] whether he will be wise or whether he will be foolish. But even if he is foolish, he will acquire all the things that I worked very hard and wisely to get.
| וסבותי אני ליאש את לבי--על כל העמל שעמלתי תחת השמש | 20 |
I thought about all the hard work that I had done. [It seemed useless], and I became depressed/discouraged.
| כי יש אדם שעמלו בחכמה ובדעת--ובכשרון ולאדם שלא עמל בו יתננו חלקו--גם זה הבל ורעה רבה | 21 |
Some people work wisely and skillfully, using the things that they have learned. But [when they die], they leave everything, and someone who has not worked hard acquires those things. And that also [seemed to] be senseless and caused me to be discouraged.
| כי מה הוה לאדם בכל עמלו וברעיון לבו--שהוא עמל תחת השמש | 22 |
So, it seems that people do not [RHQ] get much for all the hard work that they do and for worrying.
| כי כל ימיו מכאבים וכעס ענינו--גם בלילה לא שכב לבו גם זה הבל הוא | 23 |
Every day the work that they do causes them to experience pain and to be worried. And during the night, their minds are not able to rest. That also is very frustrating.
| אין טוב באדם שיאכל ושתה והראה את נפשו טוב בעמלו גם זה ראיתי אני כי מיד האלהים היא | 24 |
[So I decided that] the best thing that we can do is to enjoy what we eat and drink, and [also] enjoy our work. And I realized that those things are what God intends for us.
| כי מי יאכל ומי יחוש חוץ ממני | 25 |
There is absolutely no one [RHQ] who is able to enjoy those things if God does not give those things to him.
| כי לאדם שטוב לפניו נתן חכמה ודעת ושמחה ולחוטא נתן ענין לאסף ולכנוס לתת לטוב לפני האלהים--גם זה הבל ורעות רוח | 26 |
God enables those who please him to be wise, to know [many things], and to enjoy [many things]. But if sinful people work hard and become rich, God [can] take their money away from them and give it to those who please him. But that also is something that is difficult for me to understand. [Their working hard seems] useless, [like] chasing the wind.
