Translations
F.O.G.MPrimary
F.O.G MessageFor who can truly know what is good for a man during the brief, numbered days of his life — days he passes through like a shadow? And who can tell him what will come after him under the sun?
F.O.GSecondary
The F.O.GFor who knows what is truly good for a person in life — in the numbered days of his vaporous existence, which he passes like a shadow? For who can tell him what will come after him under the sun?
KJV
King James VersionFor who knoweth what is good for man in this life, all the days of his vain life which he spendeth as a shadow? for who can tell a man what shall be after him under the sun?
BSB
Berean Standard BibleFor who knows what is good for a man during the few days in which he passes through his fleeting life like a shadow? Who can tell a man what will come after him under the sun?
Footnotes
יְמֵי-חַיֵּי הֶבְלוֹ — literally "the days of the life of his hebel" — the genitive construction makes vapour the defining quality of existence itself, not merely a descriptor of its brevity; F.O.G renders this with "his vaporous existence" to hold that force. כַּצֵּל (katzzel, "like a shadow") is a recurring biblical motif for transience (cf. Ps. 102:11; Job 8:9; 1 Chr. 29:15). The double question that closes the chapter — what is good? and what comes after? — strips humanity of both a reliable guide for living and any knowledge of what lies beyond death, leaving the reader in a posture of deep epistemic humility before the mystery of existence under the sun.
