shil.ton denotes exercised power or control, whether in a king’s word or in human limits before death.

The term denotes power exercised as effective control or authority: a king’s word holds it, while no person possesses it over the spirit or the day of death.

1. Effective authority or control · dominant

   Both occurrences use the masculine singular absolute noun in statements about what can be controlled. In Ecclesiastes 8:4 the APB renders the clause about the king’s word as holding “power”; in Ecclesiastes 8:8 it renders the limits of human control as having no “power” over the spirit or in the day of death.

   Ecclesiastes 8:4Ecclesiastes 8:8

In the Anselm Project Bible: The APB uses “power” in both verses, first for the force of a king’s word and then for what a person lacks over the spirit and the day of death. This repetition confirms the verses’ broad presentation rather than establishing a separate rendering for each clause.