What Does Ecclesiastes 8:15 Mean?
And I praise rejoicing, for there is no good for humankind under the sun but to eat, and to drink, and to rejoice. This will cling to him in his toil the days of his life, which God gives him under the sun.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
Then I commended mirth, because a man hath no better thing under the sun, than to eat, and to drink, and to be merry: for that shall abide with him of his labour the days of his life, which God giveth him under the sun.THE KEY
Joy is not a prize held back until toil ends; it is part of what God gives within the life of toil.
THE MEANING
Your work does not consume the full meaning of your days. Eating, drinking, and gladness remain with you through your labor as part of the life God gives. The verse names this enjoyment as a share of life under the sun.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the belief that joy is legitimate only after all the work is finished: it places eating, drinking, and gladness within the days that include labor.
THE ROOT
לִשְׂמֹחַ
lismoach
GROWS FROM
שׂמח
samach
Rejoice, be glad.
“rejoicing” in this verse is lismoach. The word translated “merry” comes from the same root as “mirth” earlier in the sentence. Hebrew binds the commendation of joy to its daily enactment at the table: gladness belongs within ordinary life, including toil.
ALSO GROWS
simchah: Joy, gladness, mirth.
שִׂמְחָה
This is the noun behind the verse’s earlier “mirth,” linking its counsel about joy directly to the act of rejoicing.
sameach: Glad, joyful.
שָׂמֵחַ
This describes the state of gladness that the verse associates with eating and drinking.
נָתַן
natan
GROWS FROM
נתן
natan
Give, set, place.
“gives” in this verse is natan. The verse presents even the days of life as something given to the worker. Labor and enjoyment both take place inside a life received from God; gladness is not a reward that makes the life one’s own.
ALSO GROWS
mattan: Gift, present.
מַתָּן
The gift branch echoes that the days in which a person labors and enjoys food are given.
natun: Given, placed.
נָתוּן
This form carries the sense of something set or granted, illuminating the life in which these daily goods are received.
THE PATTERN
Daily enjoyment is received as a gift within human labor, not reserved for a life without toil.
And also, every human eats and drinks, and sees good in all his toil. This is the giving of God.For you eat the weariness of your palms; flourishing is yours, and goodness is yours.Charge those who are rich in this age, that they not be lifted high in mind, nor set their hope on uncertain riches, but upon the living God, who holds out to us richly all things to feast on.THE THREAD
And wine that gladdens the heart of a frail one, and oil to make his face shine, and bread that holds up the heart of a frail one.The Hebrew behind “maketh glad” shares the root שׂמח with “mirth” and “merry” in Ecclesiastes 8:15. Here wine gladdens the heart while oil and bread strengthen the body, opening the ordinary table as part of the good life the verse describes.
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