Ecclesiastes 9:13

Most People Are Not Receptive to Wise Counsel

9:13 This is what I also observed about wisdom on earth, ¹ 

and it is a great burden ²  to me:

Luke 16:8

16:8 The ³  master commended the dishonest ⁴  manager because he acted shrewdly. ⁵  For the people ⁶  of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their contemporaries ⁷  than the people ⁸  of light.

James 1:17

1:17 All generous giving and every perfect gift ⁹  is from above, coming down ¹⁰  from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or the slightest hint of change. ¹¹ 

James 3:17

3:17 But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, accommodating, ¹²  full of mercy and good fruit, ¹³  impartial, and not hypocritical. ¹⁴ 

¹ tn Heb “under the sun.”

² tn The term “burden” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity.

³ tn Grk “And the.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

⁴ sn Is the manager dishonest because of what he just did? Or is it a reference to what he had done earlier, described in v. 1? This is a difficult question, but it seems unlikely that the master, having fired the man for prior dishonesty, would now commend those same actions. It would also be unusual for Jesus to make that point of the story the example. Thus it is more likely the reference to dishonesty goes back to the earliest events, while the commendation is for the cleverness of the former manager reflected in vv. 5-7.

⁵ sn Where this parable ends is debated: Does it conclude with v. 7, after v. 8a, after v. 8b, or after v. 9? Verse 8a looks as if it is still part of the story, with its clear reference to the manager, while 8b looks like Jesus’ application, since its remarks are more general. So it is most likely the parable stops after v. 8a.

⁶ tn Grk “sons” (an idiom).

⁷ tn Grk “with their own generation.”

⁸ tn Grk “sons.” Here the phrase “sons of light” is a reference to the righteous. The point is that those of the world often think ahead about consequences better than the righteous do.

⁹ tn The first phrase refers to the action of giving and the second to what is given.

¹⁰ tn Or “All generous giving and every perfect gift from above is coming down.”

¹¹ tn Grk “variation or shadow of turning” (referring to the motions of heavenly bodies causing variations of light and darkness).

¹² tn Or “willing to yield,” “open to persuasion.”

¹³ tn Grk “fruits.” The plural Greek term καρπούς has been translated with the collective singular “fruit.”

¹⁴ tn Or “sincere.”