Ecclesiastes 5:3

5:3 Just as dreams come when there are many cares, ¹ 

so ²  the rash vow ³  of a fool occurs ⁴  when there are many words.

Ecclesiastes 10:13-14

10:13 At the beginning his words ⁵  are foolish

and at the end ⁶  his talk ⁷  is wicked madness, ⁸ 

10:14 yet a fool keeps on babbling. ⁹ 

No one knows what will happen;

who can tell him what will happen in the future? ¹⁰ 

James 3:2

3:2 For we all stumble ¹¹  in many ways. If someone does not stumble ¹²  in what he says, ¹³  he is a perfect individual, ¹⁴  able to control the entire body as well.

[5:3]  ¹ tn The term עִנְיַן (’inyan) means “business; affair; task; occupation” (HALOT 857 s.v. עִנְיָן; BDB 775 s.v. עִנְיָן). HALOT nuances עִנְיַן בְּרֹב (bÿrov ‘inyan) as “excessive activity” (HALOT 857 s.v. עִנְיָן). Here, it is used as a metonymy of cause (i.e., tasks) for effect (i.e., cares). The term is nuanced variously: (1) literal sense: “business” (KJV, ASV, YLT, NEB, RSV) and “effort” (NASB), and (2) metonymical: “cares” (NAB, NIV, NRSV), “concerns” (MLB, Douay), “worries” (Moffatt) and “brooding” (NJPS). The LXX mistakenly related עִנְיַן to the root II עָנַה (’anah) “to afflict,” and rendered it as πειρασμοῦ (peirasmou, “trial”).

[5:3]  ² tn The juxtaposition of the two lines joined by vav (“just as…so…”) suggests a comparison (BDB 253 s.v. ו 1.j); see R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 71, §437.

[5:3]  ³ tn Heb “voice.” The Hebrew term קוֹל (qol, “voice”) is used as a metonymy of cause (i.e., voice) for the contents (i.e., the thing said), e.g., Gen 3:17; 4:23; Exod 3:18; 4:1, 9; Deut 1:45; 21:18, 20; 1 Sam 2:25; 8:7, 9; 2 Sam 12:18); see HALOT 1084 s.v. קוֹל 4.b; BDB 877 s.v. קוֹל 3.a; also E. W. Bullinger, Figures of Speech, 545–46. Contextually, this refers to a rash vow made by a fool who made a mistake in making it because he is unable to fulfill it.

[5:3]  ⁴ tn The word “occurs” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity.

[10:13]  ⁵ tn Heb “the words of his mouth.”

[10:13]  ⁶ sn The terms “beginning” and “end” form a merism, a figure of speech in which two opposites are contrasted to indicate totality (e.g., Deut 6:7; Ps 139:8; Eccl 3:2-8). The words of a fool are madness from “start to finish.”

[10:13]  ⁷ tn Heb “his mouth.”

[10:13]  ⁸ tn Heb “madness of evil.”

[10:14]  ⁹ 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).

[10:14]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “after him”; or “after he [dies].”

[3:2]  ¹¹ tn Or “fail.”

[3:2]  ¹² tn Or “fail.”

[3:2]  ¹³ tn Grk “in speech.”

[3:2]  ¹⁴ tn The word for “man” or “individual” is ἀνήρ (anhr), which often means “male” or “man (as opposed to woman).” But it sometimes is used generically to mean “anyone,” “a person,” as here (cf. BDAG 79 s.v. 2).