A generation goes, and a generation comes: as we look at the two halves of verse 4, we note immediately that it contains a contrast. It is this contrast that Qoheleth wants his readers to notice, for it will be seen again throughout the poem. Comes and goes in the first half contrast with remains in the second half; flow and change contrast with permanence. Both of these are features of the world in which we live and seek out some “benefit” or “gain.”

There are different opinions about the meaning of the term generation. Most versions (Good News Translation, Revised Standard Version, Jerusalem Bible) agree that it refers to generations of people on earth, with one generation replacing another as life and time move along. If generation does not exist as a concept, we can restructure to say “some die and others are born,” or “old people die; babies are born.” Translators need to be careful to avoid giving the impression that there is belief in reincarnation here. In some translations generation has been rendered by the word “world”: “one world comes and one world goes.” However, this may cause serious misunderstandings because of the various meanings of the word “world.” What is in focus is what happens on earth. No reference to another world (or heaven) is intended here.

There are some translations (Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, Knox) that understand generation to mean “an age” rather than the people who live during that time. This idea comes from the fact that the second half of the verse talks about the earth being here for ever. The original dictionary meaning of the Hebrew word dor refers to circular motion. Because of the lack of a particular context for this passage, it is more than likely that the word here is deliberately general; it does not refer to any one item, but simply reminds us that in the physical world there are some things that go through cycles. We may translate along the following lines: “One cycle follows another, but…,” or “Some things come as others go, but…,” or “One age follows another.”

Goes … comes translates the Hebrew literally, so translators can see that, to have a natural English expression, the verbs have been reversed in Good News Translation. In translation we may find a natural pair of verbs expressing this idea. Alternatively cyclical movement can be expressed by a single verb such as in “one age follows another.”

But the earth remains for ever: permanence is the theme of the second half of the verse. Earth, or the world, “stands” (remains) and endures for ever. The adverbial phrase for ever, which is literally “for an age,” is the regular way in which the Old Testament expresses a very long time. It does not mean “eternity” in the present technical sense of the word, but is the longest period of time the ancient Israelites could imagine, often only the lifetime of an individual, as in Deut 15.17. It can refer both to the past (“all the days of old,” Isa 63.9, 11) as well as the future (Isa 45.17). Good News Translation “the world stays just the same” indicates permanence without using the expression for ever.

Quoted with permission from Ogden, Graham S. and Zogbo, Lynell. A Handbook on the Book of Ecclesiates. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1997. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .