Ecclesiastes 2 — Hebrew and Greek compared
Disparate in this chapter: 2:8, 2:12, 2:25
Each card keeps the independently rendered source readings above their shared comparison and reception notes. The badge records the source’s governing classification; disparate readings are marked in red. Each reading retains its original reference.
Chapter 2
Hebrew source [BHS2] • Greek source [LXX2]
Pleasure, labor and inheritance (2:1–26)
Verse 2:1 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[2:1] I said in my heart: Come now, I will test you with joy; experience good. But look, this too was vapor.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[2:1] I said in my heart: Come now, I will test you with gladness; experience good. But look, this too was futility.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Both address the heart in the experiment; vapor and futility retain the central lexical distinction.
Verse 2:2 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[2:2] Of laughter I said, Madness! And of joy, What does this accomplish?
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[2:2] Of laughter I said, Delirium! And to gladness, What are you doing?
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: Greek addresses gladness directly; Hebrew asks about its result. Greek periphora is rendered delirium in the mental-disorder context.
Verse 2:3 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[2:3] I explored in my heart how to draw my flesh along with wine—while my heart guided me with wisdom—and how to grasp folly, until I might see what is good for human beings to do beneath the heavens during the numbered days of their lives.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[2:3] I examined in my heart how to draw my flesh toward wine—while my heart guided me with wisdom—and how to take hold of folly, until I might see what good human beings should do beneath the sun during the numbered days of their lives.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew beneath the heavens becomes Greek beneath the sun. The flesh-and-wine experiment remains distinct from the narrator's claimed guidance by wisdom.
Verse 2:4 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[2:4] I enlarged my works; I built houses for myself and planted vineyards for myself.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[2:4] I enlarged my work; I built houses for myself and planted vineyards for myself,
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: Greek has singular work, then continues its list into the next verse.
Verse 2:5 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[2:5] I made gardens and parks for myself and planted in them every kind of fruit tree.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[2:5] I made gardens and parks for myself and planted in them every kind of fruit tree.
Classification & Notes
Same. Text: Parks renders the enclosed cultivated grounds of pardesim/paradeisoi; no heavenly meaning is imposed.
Verse 2:6 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[2:6] I made pools of water for myself to irrigate from them a woodland growing trees.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[2:6] I made pools of water for myself to irrigate from them a woodland sprouting trees.
Classification & Notes
Same. Text: The waterworks and cultivated woodland agree.
Verse 2:7 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[2:7] I acquired male and female slaves, and I had slaves born in my house. I also had more herds and flocks than everyone who was before me in Jerusalem.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[2:7] I acquired male and female slaves, and I had slaves born in my house. I also had a great possession of herds and flocks, beyond everyone who was before me in Jerusalem.
Classification & Notes
Same. Text: The purchase and house-born context warrants slaves, not merely hired servants. Both report the ruler's possessions without adding endorsement.
Verse 2:8 Disparate
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[2:8] I also gathered silver and gold for myself, and the treasure of kings and provinces. I provided male and female singers for myself, and human delights—a concubine and concubines.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[2:8] I also gathered silver and gold for myself, and the riches of kings and regions. I provided male and female singers for myself, and human delights—a male cupbearer and female cupbearers.
Classification & Notes
Disparate. Text: Hebrew shiddah weshiddot is rare and uncertain, provisionally concubine and concubines; alternative senses remain open. Greek explicitly reads male and female wine servers. The number and gender distinction is retained.
Verse 2:9 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[2:9] I grew great and surpassed everyone who was before me in Jerusalem; my wisdom also remained with me.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[2:9] I grew great and surpassed everyone who was before me in Jerusalem; my wisdom also remained with me.
Classification & Notes
Same. Text: The narrator's claim agrees.
Verse 2:10 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[2:10] Whatever my eyes asked for, I did not withhold from them. I did not keep my heart from any joy, for my heart rejoiced in all my toil, and this was my portion from all my toil.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[2:10] Whatever my eyes asked for, I did not withhold from them. I did not keep my heart from any gladness, for my heart rejoiced in all my toil, and this was my portion from all my toil.
Classification & Notes
Same. Text: The limited portion of enjoyment is retained, without changing it into an enduring surplus.
Verse 2:11 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[2:11] Then I turned to all the works my hands had done and the toil with which I had labored to do them, and look, everything was vapor and pursuit of wind, with no surplus beneath the sun.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[2:11] Then I looked upon all my works that my hands had done and the toil with which I had labored to do them, and look, everything was futility and resolve of spirit, with no surplus beneath the sun.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: The recurring vapor/futility and pursuit-of-wind/resolve-of-spirit distinctions remain.
Verse 2:12 Disparate
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[2:12] Then I turned to consider wisdom, madness and folly. For what can the person who comes after the king do? What they have already done.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[2:12] Then I looked to consider wisdom, delirium and folly. For who is the person who will come after the counsel—all the things with which he made it?
Classification & Notes
Disparate. Text: Greek counsel replaces Hebrew king. Both closing constructions are difficult; the Hebrew supplies do from context, while the Greek retains the relative phrase and its uncertain relation to counsel. Neither is reconstructed from the other; specialist review remains open.
Verse 2:13 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[2:13] I saw that wisdom has an advantage over folly, like the advantage light has over darkness.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[2:13] I saw that wisdom has an advantage over folly, like the advantage light has over darkness.
Classification & Notes
Same. Text: The relative advantage of wisdom is affirmed despite the following common fate.
Verse 2:14 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[2:14] The wise person's eyes are in his head, but the fool walks in darkness. Yet I too knew that one event happens to them all.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[2:14] The wise person's eyes are in his head, but the fool walks in darkness. Yet I too knew that one event will happen to them all.
Classification & Notes
Same. Text: The common event is left unnamed here, though death is explicit in 2:16. Saints reception [AMB6]: Ambrose, On the Mysteries 6.30, invokes the wise person’s eyes in his head while explaining post-baptismal anointing and participation in priestly grace. This sacramental application is not inserted into the wisdom saying.
Verse 2:15 Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[2:15] I said in my heart: The fool's fate will happen to me too. Why then have I been so very wise? And I said in my heart that this too was vapor.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[2:15] I said in my heart: The fool's fate will happen to me too. Why have I been wise? Then I spoke excessively in my heart, because a fool speaks from excess, for this too is futility.
Classification & Notes
Divergent. Text: Greek reattaches the expression for excess to speaking and adds the fool's excessive speech. The added clause is not supplied to Hebrew.
Verse 2:16 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[2:16] For there is no enduring remembrance of the wise person or the fool; in the coming days everything will already be forgotten. How can the wise person die just like the fool?
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[2:16] For there is no enduring remembrance of the wise person along with the fool; in the coming days everything will already be forgotten. How will the wise person die along with the fool?
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: Both express the perplexity of shared death and loss of remembrance.
Verse 2:17 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[2:17] I hated life, because the work done beneath the sun was grievous to me, for everything is vapor and pursuit of wind.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[2:17] I hated life, because the work done beneath the sun was grievous to me, for everything is futility and resolve of spirit.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: The speaker's distress is retained, with the recurring lexical distinctions.
Verse 2:18 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[2:18] I hated all my toil with which I toiled beneath the sun, because I must leave it to the person who comes after me.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[2:18] I hated all my toil with which I toil beneath the sun, because I leave it to the person who comes after me.
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: The loss of control over the inheritance agrees.
Verse 2:19 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[2:19] Who knows whether he will be wise or foolish? Yet he will rule over all the toil with which I labored and acted wisely beneath the sun. This too is vapor.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[2:19] Who knows whether he will be wise or foolish? Yet he has authority over all the toil with which I labored and acted wisely beneath the sun. This too is futility.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Greek presents the heir's authority with a present verb; vapor and futility remain distinct.
Verse 2:20 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[2:20] I turned to make my heart despair over all the toil with which I had labored beneath the sun.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[2:20] I turned to bid my heart farewell concerning all the toil with which I had labored beneath the sun,
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Greek apotaxasthai uses farewell or renunciation language rather than the Hebrew despair verb. The unusual formulation is preserved.
Verse 2:21 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[2:21] For a person may toil with wisdom, knowledge and skill, yet must give his portion to someone who did not toil for it. This too is vapor and a great evil.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[2:21] for a person may toil with wisdom, knowledge and courage, yet will give his portion to someone who did not toil for it. This too is futility and a great evil.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew skill becomes Greek courage. Greek's loose nominative construction is smoothed while retaining the transfer of the worker's portion to a nonworker.
Verse 2:22 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[2:22] For what does a person get from all his toil and the striving of his heart with which he toils beneath the sun?
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[2:22] For what comes to a person from all his toil and the resolve of his heart with which he toils beneath the sun?
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: Greek again uses proairesis, resolve, here explicitly of the heart.
Verse 2:23 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[2:23] For all his days are pain, and his occupation is vexation; even at night his heart does not rest. This too is vapor.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[2:23] For all his days are pain, and his distraction is anger; even at night his heart does not sleep. This too is futility.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Greek retains the distracting-preoccupation vocabulary and anger where Hebrew has occupation and vexation.
Verse 2:24 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[2:24] Nothing is better for a person than to eat and drink and let his soul see good in his toil. This too I saw is from the hand of God.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[2:24] There is no good in a person. What he eats and drinks and lets his soul see as good in his toil—I saw that this too is from the hand of God.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew's no good construction is interpreted comparatively, supplying better and than for the enjoyment maxim. Greek is punctuated as a negative opening followed by the relative clauses and resumed this. The relation of human ability, enjoyment and divine gift remains a review question; the Greek is not expanded into a doctrine of universal moral worthlessness.
Verse 2:25 Disparate
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[2:25] For who can eat, and who can enjoy himself, apart from me?
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[2:25] For who will eat, and who will abstain, apart from Him?
Classification & Notes
Disparate. Text: The declared Hebrew has mimmenni, from me; Greek has autou, from Him, referring contextually to God. Hebrew yahush is difficult, provisionally enjoy himself; Greek pheisetai is spare or abstain. Neither pronoun nor action is harmonized.
Verse 2:26 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[2:26] For to the person who is good before Him He gives wisdom, knowledge and joy; but to the sinner He gives the occupation of gathering and collecting, to give to the one who is good before God. This too is vapor and pursuit of wind.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[2:26] For to the person who is good before Him He gives wisdom, knowledge and gladness; but to the sinner He gives the distraction of adding and gathering, to give to the one who is good before God. This too is futility and resolve of spirit.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Both attribute the contrasting allotments to God. The occupation/distraction and concluding refrain distinctions remain explicit.