23 For all his days are sorrows, and his travail grief; yea, his heart taketh not rest in the night. This is also vanity.
Why, every day he spends is a trouble, and disappointment the result of his anxiety, so that even at night his heart gets no rest. So then this is an instance of evanescence itself.
(23.) For (as כי is repeated, it becomes emphatic, ‘for now’) all his days are causing him pain (or painful——notice the force of the מ־) and disappointment his anxiety, (a pregnant sentence, denoting more than his anxiety disappoints, his anxiety is always painful and useless too) also at night does not rest (this clause is an additional proof that we have correctly determined the meaning of [♦]ענין; it is anxiety which causes wakefulness) even his heart. Moreover this a vanity it is (emphatic; so the meaning is, ‘this then is indeed an instance of evanescence’).
[♦] “עגין” replaced with “ענין”
24 ¶ There is nothing better for a man, than that he should eat and drink, and that he should make his soul enjoy good in his labour. This also I saw, that it was from the hand of God.
There is no real good then to man in eating or drinking, or in supposing he will satisfy himself with his toil. Moreover, I must make this observation, that these things are all in the hand of the Almighty,