8 But if a man live many years, and rejoice in them all; yet let him remember the days of darkness; for they shall be many. All that cometh is vanity.
yet if man lives to the very longest limit of his days, in all of them he may rejoice, and remember with respect to the days of darkness that they shall be many too: all that is coming is evanescent.
(8.) For if the years are many (that is, if his years are as long as they can be) the man (humanity generally) in all of them rejoices (but as the noun stands before the verb, it is emphatic, and in this case, as the verb is preceded by בכלם, is potential——‘may rejoice’), and remembers with regard to days of darkness (that is, forgetfulness, the days when he is forgotten, and also of sorrow or sadness, for both meanings are combined) for the many (repeating the above, with the sense, then, ‘for very many also,’) will they be, all which may come (‘every coming event’ that is, as the contracted relative shows) is vanity (evanescent).
9 ¶ Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth; and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes: but know thou, that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment.
Rejoice, O choice young man, in the days of thy youth, and let thy heart do thee good in the choice days of thy youth, and walk in ways of thy heart and sights of thine eyes, and know how, on account of all these things thou shalt be summoned of the Almighty to judgment.
(9.) Rejoice, young man (but בחר has the sense of ‘choice,’ and this is to be remembered here) in thy youth (but ילדות occurs here only; see however Psalms cx. 3, which the Masorets point יַלְדֻתֶךָ; this word is the abstract of the word ילד, which means ‘to beget;’ hence the exact meaning of ילדות would be ‘productions’), and cause good to thee let thy heart in days of thy choosings (for בחורות also occurs only here and chapter xii. 1, and youth therefore is so designated, because it is a time of choice), and walk in ways of thy heart, and seeings of thine eyes; and know how, upon all these, thou art caused to come of the Deity into judgment. (The LXX. have here the gloss ἄμωμος——‘in the ways of thine heart blameless;’ but the Syriac Hexaplar notes this gloss with an asterisk, so that it is clearly not entitled to any weight; it was no doubt a subsequent addition to the text, because the meaning was not seen, as indeed it cannot be, without a reference to the double meanings of the Hebrew words.)