[¹] Hebrew there is a good which is comely, etc.
[²] Hebrew the number of the days.
Manifest, then, is that real good which I have observed, viz., that it is proper to eat, and to drink, and so to see good in all one’s toil which one may toil in this hot work-day world, as the tale of one’s daily life. For this is what God gives, and this is one’s own possession.
(18.) Behold (for this introduces the manifest result of his observation) that which I have seen, even I myself (the result therefore of his own personal experience), a real good; which also (the full relative here has this meaning, because it is repeated) is suitable to the eating (i.e. active enjoyment), to the drinking (which is passive), and to the seeing of goodness (the lamed is repeated before each full infinitive, and the abstract טובה follows, which therefore gives the meaning that what he had observed was, ‘that it was proper that one should eat, or one should drink, or should see good in,’ etc., i.e. any or all of these); and (repeated, meaning ‘and also’) in all his toil which (contracted relative) he toils over (toil is thus made very emphatic, the meaning is, ‘for which one so earnestly or unceasingly toils,’ for observe also, as no nominative is expressed, the verb is impersonal) under the sun the number (the root ספר has the meaning to count or enumerate, hence the idea ‘as one is counting one’s days’) of the days of his life which gives to him (emphatic) the Deity (nominative following verb, with the usual shade of meaning), because it is his portion (i.e. what belongs to him, but in the future he has no portion, that no man has any right over).
19 Every man also to whom God hath given riches and wealth, and hath given him power to eat thereof, and to take his portion, and to rejoice in his labour; this is the gift of God.
And beside, should the Almighty appoint to any individuals of the human race, riches, possessions, and the power to enjoy them, and so to make use of their possessions, and rejoice in their toil——this is simply a Divine appointment.
(19.) Moreover, all the man (i.e. every one of the human race considered collectively and in the abstract) which gives to him (equivalent to one to whom) God (gives or appoints) wealth and riches, and it is caused him to have power in order to eat (which we have seen is used as the highest type of enjoyment in the active sense) of it, and to take his portion (for a man may possess without being able to eat or enjoy at all, hence the necessity for this clause in the course of the argument; נשא has the meaning to ‘lift up,’ ‘carry,’ or ‘bear’), and to rejoice in his toil (which——considering the exact meaning assigned in this book to עמל, the ‘care’ one takes in one’s labour——to rejoice in is to see it come to a successful end); this same (the Masorets put here a strong disjunctive accent) a gift of God it is.