Qohelet's Symbolic Use of [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]‪.‬

The word [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]--traditionally "vanity" but literally "vapor" or "breath"--has correctly been recognized as pivotal to understanding the book of Ecclesiastes as a whole. (1 It occurs some thirty-eight times, often in crucial locations,) serving both as motto and as refrain. (2) "Complete vapor," says Qohelet at the beginning of his book, "Complete vapor! All is vapor" (1:2), and he repeats this as an inclusio at the book's end (12:8). (3) It is most obvious, as Michael Fox has stated, to read 1:2 as a pronouncement which Qohelet then proceeds to explicate. (4) Frequently throughout the book Qohelet adds, "this indeed was vapor," or "all is vapor and a chasing after wind." Yet commentators and translators have found the term to be confusing, so that its interpretation has become perhaps the most crucial of many challenges involved with Ecclesiastes. Because of its central use in the book, the approach taken to [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] dramatically shapes the way the entire book is understood. If, for example, the reader takes [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] in 1:2 to indicate "meaningless" (so NIV), then this appears to be Qohelet's message about all of human experience as well, for then, "All is meaningless." (5)