10:3 Even when a fool walks along the road he lacks sense, 1
and shows 2 everyone what a fool he is. 3
7:17 Do not be excessively wicked and do not be a fool;
otherwise 4 you might die before your time.
2:19 Who knows if he will be a wise man or a fool?
Yet 5 he will be master over all the fruit of 6 my labor 7
for which I worked so wisely 8 on earth! 9
This also is futile!
10:14 yet a fool keeps on babbling. 10
No one knows what will happen;
who can tell him what will happen in the future? 11
1 tn Heb “he lacks his heart.”
2 tn Heb “he tells everyone.”
3 sn A fool’s lack of wisdom is obvious to everyone, even when he is engaged in the simple, ordinary actions of life.
4 tn Heb “Why?” The question is rhetorical.
7 tn The vav on וְיִשְׁלַט (vÿyishlat, conjunction + Qal imperfect 3rd person masculine singular from שָׁלַט, shalat, “to be master”) is adversative (“yet”).
8 tn The phrase “the fruit of” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity (see the following note on the word “labor”).
9 tn Heb “my labor.” As in 2:18, the term עֲמָלִי (’amali, “my labor”) is a metonymy of cause (i.e., my labor) for effect (i.e., fruit of my labor). The metonymy is recognized by several translations: “he will control all the wealth that I gained” (NJPS); “he will have control over all the fruits of my labor” (NAB); “he will have mastery over all the fruits of my labor” (NEB); “he will have control over all the fruit of my labor” (NASB); “he will be master over all my possessions” (MLB).
10 tn An internal cognate accusative construction (accusative and verb from same root) is used for emphasis: שֶׁעָמַלְתִּי עֲמָלִי (’amali she’amalti, “my toil for which I had toiled”); see IBHS 167 §10.2.1g. The two verbs שֶׁעָמַלְתִּי וְשֶׁחָכַמְתִּי (she’amalti vÿshekhakhamti, “for which I had labored and for which I had acted wisely”) form a verbal hendiadys (two separate verbs used in association to communicate one idea): “for I had labored so wisely.” The second verb is used adverbially to modify the first verb, which functions in its full verbal sense.
11 tn Heb “under the sun.”
10 tn Heb “and the fool multiplies words.” This line is best taken as the third line of a tricola encompassing 10:13-14a (NASB, NRSV, NJPS, Moffatt) rather than the first line of a tricola encompassing 10:14 (KJV, NEB, RSV, NAB, ASV, NIV). Several versions capture the sense of this line well: “a fool prates on and on” (Moffatt) and “Yet the fool talks and talks!” (NJPS).
11 tn Heb “after him”; or “after he [dies].”