What Does Ecclesiastes 8:15 Mean in the King James?
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 analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
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.
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.
“giveth” 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 that every man should eat and drink, and enjoy the good of all his labour, it is the gift of God.For thou shalt eat the labour of thine hands: happy shalt thou be, and it shall be well with thee.Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy;THE THREAD
And wine that maketh glad the heart of man, and oil to make his face to shine, and bread which strengtheneth man’s heart.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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