(14.) =There exists a vanity done= (_i.e._ which occurs or happens to men) =under the sun= (the LXX. render by a perfect, πεποίηται), =which is, that there exists righteous= (full relative) =which= (persons or acts) =it reaches= (hiphil participle, Genesis xxviii. 12) =to them= (emphatic) =according to the doing of the wicked ones=, (generic; they attain the same ends as the wicked ones do, in this world at least, for ‘under the sun’ is put in as a qualifying clause), =and there are wicked ones which= it =reaches= (here we have the contract relative instead of the full one above. So accurate a writer as Koheleth could hardly have done this without reason. We have already noticed the subjunctive sense the contract relative gives to the verb it joins――possibly he intends a limitation; it is an occurrence which _sometimes_ happens, the _rule_ however is after all the other way) =to them according to the working= of the =righteous ones, I said which also= (שגם――see chapter i. 17, ii. 15, the only other two instances in which this combination occurs; it clearly gives an interrogatory force, with a tone of surprise) is =vanity?= 15 Then I commended mirth, │ Then I, for my part, expressed because a man hath no better │ a preference with regard to thing under the sun, than to │ enjoyment, because there is eat, and to drink, and to be │ no real good to a man in this merry: for that shall abide │ work-day world, except to eat, with him of his labour the │ and drink, and be delighted, days of his life, which God │ and that same conjoined with giveth him under the sun. │ his toil during the days of │ his life; and because also │ it is appointed to him of the │ Almighty in this work-day world. (15.) =And I praised, I myself, with respect to= (which the LXX. note by σὺν adverbial) =the gladness= (which is both generic and abstract, ‘I came, that is, to a strong conclusion as to the value of present happiness’), =because there is no good to a man under the sun, except to eat, and to drink, and to rejoice, and that= (emphatic) =to abide with him in= (or by means of) =his toil during the days of his life= (_i.e._ no other real good except this gratification immediately arising from the toil) =which= is =a gift to him= (emphatic) =of Divine Providence= (and so not the result of his labour, but a mercy for which he ought to thank God) =under the sun= (which is in this case reserved to the end of the sentence, and indeed the period, for the next clause is a summing up).