Ecclesiastes 4:12-13

4:12 Although an assailant may overpower ¹  one person,

two can withstand him.

Moreover, a three-stranded cord is not quickly broken.

Labor Motivated by Prestige-Seeking

4:13 A poor but wise youth is better than an old and foolish king

who no longer knows how to receive advice.

Ecclesiastes 6:5

6:5 though it never saw the light of day ²  nor knew anything, ³ 

yet it has more rest ⁴  than that man –

Ecclesiastes 8:5

8:5 Whoever obeys his ⁵  command will not experience harm,

and a wise person ⁶  knows the proper time ⁷  and procedure.

Ecclesiastes 10:10

10:10 If an iron axhead ⁸  is blunt and a workman ⁹  does not sharpen ¹⁰  its edge, ¹¹ 

he must exert a great deal of effort; ¹² 

so wisdom has the advantage of giving success.

Ecclesiastes 10:15

10:15 The toil of a stupid fool ¹³  wears him out, ¹⁴ 

because he does not even know the way to the city. ¹⁵ 

Ecclesiastes 12:2

12:2 before the sun and the light ¹⁶  of the moon and the stars grow dark,

and the clouds disappear ¹⁷  after the rain;

[4:12]  ¹ tn The verbal root תקף means “to overpower; to prevail over” e.g., Job 14:20; 15:24; Eccl 4:12; 6:10 (HALOT 1786 s.v. תקף).

[6:5]  ² tn Heb “it never saw the sun.”

[6:5]  ³ tn The word “anything” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity.

[6:5]  ⁴ sn The Hebrew term translated rest here refers to freedom from toil, anxiety, and misery – part of the miserable misfortune that the miserly man of wealth must endure.

[8:5]  ³ tn The word “his” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for smoothness and clarity.

[8:5]  ⁴ tn Heb “the heart of a wise man.”

[8:5]  ⁵ tn The term עֵת (’et, “time”) connotes “a proper, suitable time for an event; the right moment” (HALOT 900 s.v. עֵת 6; BDB 773 s.v. עֵת 2.b); e.g., “it was the time for rain” (Ezra 10:13); “a time of judgment for the nations” (Ezek 30:3); “there is an appropriate time for every occasion” (Eccl 3:1); “the time when mountain goats are born” (Job 39:1); “the rain in its season” (Deut 11:14; Jer 5:24); “the time for the harvest” (Hos 2:11; Ps 1:3); “food in its season” (Ps 104:27).

[10:10]  ⁴ tn The term “ax head” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity. The preceding noun “iron” functions as a metonymy of material (i.e., iron) for the object with which it is associated (i.e., ax head).

[10:10]  ⁵ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the workman) is implied, and has been specified in the translation for clarity

[10:10]  ⁶ tn The verb קלל in the Pilpel means “to sharpen; to make a blade sharp” (HALOT 1104 s.v. קלל 1).This denominative verb is derived from the rare noun II קָלַל “smooth; shiny” (referring to bronze; Ezek 1:7; Dan 10:6; HALOT 1105 s.v.). Sharpening the blade or head of a bronze ax will make it smooth and shiny. It is not derived from I קָלַל (qalal) “to treat light” or the noun I קְלָלָה (qÿlalah) “curse.” Nor is it related to I קָלַל “to shake” (Ezek 21:26); cf. HALOT 1104. BDB 886 s.v. קָלַל 2 erroneously relates it to I קָלַל, suggesting “to whet” or “to move quickly to and fro.”

[10:10]  ⁷ tn Heb “face.”

[10:10]  ⁸ tn Heb “strength.” The term וַחֲיָלִים (vakhayalim, conjunction + plural noun from חַיִל, khayil, “strength; efficiency”) is an example of a plural of intensification (GKC 397-98 §124.e). The point is that it is a waste of a great deal of strength and energy. If a person is not smart, he will have to use a lot of energy and waste his efficiency.

[10:15]  ⁵ tn The plural form of הַכְּסִילִים (hakkÿsilim, from כְּסִיל, kÿsil, “fool”) denotes (1) plural of number: referring to several fools or (2) plural of habitual character or plural of intensity (referring to a single person characterized by a habitual or intense quality of foolishness). The latter is favored because the two verbs in 10:15 are both singular in form: “wearies him” (תְּיַגְּעֶנּוּ, tÿyaggÿ’ennu) and “he does [not] know” (לֹא־יָדַע, lo’-yada’); see GKC 440-41 §135.p. The article on הַכְּסִילִים is used in the generic sense.

[10:15]  ⁶ tn This line may be interpreted in one of three ways: (1) “the labor of fools wearies him because he did not know enough to go to a town,” referring to the labor of the peasants who had not been able to find a place in town where life was easier; (2) “the labor of the fools so wearies everyone of them (singular pronoun taken in a distributive sense) so much that he even does not know how to go to town,” that is, he does not even know how to do the easiest thing in the world; (3) “let the labor of fools so weary him that he may not even know how to go to town,” taking the verb as a jussive, describing the foolish man described in 10:12-14. See D. Barthélemy, ed., Preliminary and Interim Report on the Hebrew Old Testament Text Project, 3:592–93.

[10:15]  ⁷ tn Heb “he does not know to go to the city.”

[12:2]  ⁶ tn Heb “the light and the moon and the stars.” The phrase “the light and the moon” is a hendiadys (two separate terms denoting one idea) or perhaps even a hendiatris (three separate terms denoting one idea) for “the light of the moon and stars” (e.g., Gen 1:14).

[12:2]  ⁷ tn The verb שׁוּב (shuv, “to return”) here denotes “to desist” (HALOT 1430 s.v. שׁוּב 3). It pictures the disappearance of the clouds as a result of the precipitation of their contents.