In my vain life is Qoheleth’s way of referring to the life he has led. What does he mean by this phrase? Does he mean that his life has been of no value, that it is “useless” as Good News Translation claims, or “empty” as New English Bible suggests? Jerusalem Bible thinks that his life has been “fleeting.” New Jerusalem Bible also interprets “in my own brief span of life.” The Hebrew is “in the days of my hevel.” On the term hevel in this book, refer to comments in “Translating Ecclesiastes,” page 2.

The Hebrew noun for “days” refers to the duration of his life up to the present, while the term hevel describes the context in which he lived, rather than the nature of his existence. When Qoheleth uses the term hevel, he generally portrays a situation that is enigmatic, difficult to comprehend. So our conclusion is that this condensed phrase means that Qoheleth lived out his life in a world that was full of unanswered questions and problems. They are the kinds of things he listed in 5.17. This understanding suggests a translation like “Throughout my life in this problem-filled world,” or “While living in this strange [enigmatic] world.”

I have seen everything: the Hebrew begins the verse with this clause. Placing the clause at the head of the verse gives it emphasis. The word “all” (translated everything) is the first part of what is called an “inclusion” for the section; that is, it is a term found at both the beginning and end of a section of discourse, thus marking for us where the section ends and where it begins; the second “all” occurs at the end of verse 18. When Qoheleth says that he saw everything, the context here suggests that he really means he saw many things, and the two following cases are examples of them. We may also give its meaning as “so much” (so Jerusalem Bible), or “so many things.” New English Bible has “all manner of things.”

Have seen: on the verb “see” and its meaning in this book, refer to comments in 1.13-14.

Two translation examples:

• I have observed so much during my life in this problem-filled world.

• I have seen so many incomprehensible things in my life.

There is a righteous man who perishes in his righteousness: this is the first of two parallel clauses telling us what Qoheleth saw. There is translates a Hebrew word that points to a class or group of people. It can also be rendered by “there is the case of….” Righteous in the Old Testament usually has a very clear bond with the Law. A righteous person is one who lived in accordance with the Law. Good News Translation “a good man” is a rather weak alternative. Because Qoheleth offers this as an example to be considered, we can convey his meaning by saying “For example, there are some people who faithfully keep God’s Law.”

Who perishes describes the fate of the righteous person and states simply that the person dies. In itself, the fact that a human being dies is not surprising, but what concerns Qoheleth here is the fact that a righteous person may have his life cut short or die before his time, while the nonrighteous person may have a long life. This is contrary to the traditional school of wisdom, which taught that evil people would not be prosperous or have long lives. Only wise and just people would be wealthy and live long (see Pro 3.1-3). It is the early death of a righteous person that leads Qoheleth to say that this world is difficult to understand (hevel). To communicate this idea effectively, translators may need to say “[righteous] people may die an early death,” “… die before their time,” or “… die prematurely.”

In his righteousness is a prepositional phrase with an adversative function. That is to say, it marks what happens to a person “in spite of” being righteous. Similar uses of the preposition can be found; for example, in Num 14.11 “in spite of all the signs which I have wrought among them.” Translators may feel that it is better to expand this prepositional phrase into a clause: “Despite the fact that they have followed the Law faithfully, they have not had long lives.”

The repetition of the word righteous in the Hebrew here emphasizes Qoheleth’s dismay at this unhappy situation. The translator should try if possible to express the emotion of the phrase. However, in some languages such repetition will not be natural and should be avoided.

Suggestions for translation:

• There is the case of a righteous person who dies an early death despite being just.

• For example, there are some who faithfully keep the Law, but die an early death despite that.

In some languages it may be quite natural to begin this part of the verse by repeating “I saw…”; thus:

• I saw people who had followed the Law faithfully, but they did not live long lives.

And there is a wicked man: the evil person (rashaʿ), or wicked man, contrasts with the righteous person of the first example. The wicked person ignores the Law and its requirements, mistreats others, and in particular offends God. According to Israelite tradition, this kind of individual would meet an early death, because God would punish him (see Pro 11.19-21; 24.19-20). Good News Translation does not translate this phrase literally; it prefers to show the contrast by using “while others…,” then later describes these people as “evil.”

There is: see comments earlier in this verse.

Who prolongs his life means that the wicked person actually seemed to live longer; the expected judgment from God against evil did not come. To “prolong life” in the Hebrew is not a transitive verb, as if the person actually did something enabling himself to live longer; it simply means “lives long.” New English Bible “growing old…” is an excellent suggestion. We can avoid the problem in the Revised Standard Version rendering by simply saying, “who lives a long life.” This is the sense of the Hebrew verb when used intransitively. Good News Translation and Jerusalem Bible have “lives on,” suggesting that he outlived the righteous person. The sense of New American Bible “surviving” is that the person manages to keep on living, but not at any significant level of success. We perhaps should avoid that latter model.

In his evil-doing follows the same pattern as in the first half of the verse, so the Hebrew preposition means “in spite of,” or Good News Translation “even though.” See comments above on the function of this preposition. His evil-doing is literally “his evil,” referring to the person’s evil ways and deeds. This makes the Revised Standard Version model more appropriate than the Good News Translation, which simply uses the adjective to describe him (“he is evil”).

We can translate as:

• … and there is the case of a corrupt person who lives a long life despite his evil deeds.

• … and there are others who disobey God’s Law, but despite that still enjoy long life.

• But I also saw evil people living long lives, even though they disobeyed God’s Law.

The last two clauses in this verse exhibit a strict grammatical parallelism:

There is a righteous person, dying in his righteousness;
and there is a wicked person, living in his evil ways.

It may be possible for the translator to translate these lines following this pattern, if the meaning can be faithfully preserved. For example,

• One man dies, even though he is righteous [or, faithful to the Law];
And another lives, even though he is wicked [or, he disobeys the Law].

It is more important, however, that a translation be faithful in terms of meaning rather than structure. So if such grammatical parallelism is not appreciated, the translator may give a freer and more natural translation.

Quoted with permission from Ogden, Graham S. and Zogbo, Lynell. A Handbook on the Book of Ecclesiates. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1997. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .