Ecclesiastes has intrigued readers for millennia. Its various puzzles encourage investigation as the author, Qohelet, explores the hard challenges of life that are as true today as in his time. Douglas B. Miller is convinced that Qohelet employed the word hebel (literally “vapor,” traditionally translated vanity or meaningless) as a kind of puzzle, inviting the reader to wrestle with its possible meanings and giving clues along the way. If so, it is especially important to allow the reader the privilege of doing that as much as possible, even when reading the book in translation.
In The Words of Qohelet, the Seeker, Miller first provides a fresh literal translation of the book that allows the word hebel to play its original role as a live metaphor and symbol. The book’s second part offers a lively paraphrase of Qohelet’s work, and the final section gives a brief statement of the work’s message, section by section, that helps the rhetoric of Ecclesiastes to emerge. This concise volume is a helpful resource for those who wish to reflect on and engage the fascinating text that is Ecclesiastes.
In The Words of Qohelet, the Seeker, Miller first provides a fresh literal translation of the book that allows the word hebel to play its original role as a live metaphor and symbol. The book’s second part offers a lively paraphrase of Qohelet’s work, and the final section gives a brief statement of the work’s message, section by section, that helps the rhetoric of Ecclesiastes to emerge. This concise volume is a helpful resource for those who wish to reflect on and engage the fascinating text that is Ecclesiastes.
