Ecclesiastes 4:13
Context4:13 A poor but wise youth is better than an old and foolish king
who no longer knows how to receive advice.
Ecclesiastes 6:8
Context6:8 So what advantage does a wise man have over a fool? 1
And what advantage 2 does a pauper gain by knowing how to survive? 3
Ecclesiastes 8:5
Context8:5 Whoever obeys his 4 command will not experience harm,
and a wise person 5 knows the proper time 6 and procedure.
Ecclesiastes 12:11
Context12:11 The words of the sages are like prods, 7
and the collected sayings are like firmly fixed nails;
they are given by one shepherd.


[6:8] 1 sn So what advantage does the wise man have over a fool? The rhetorical question in Hebrew implies a negative answer: the wise man has no absolute advantage over a fool in the sense that both will share the same fate: death. Qoheleth should not be misunderstood here as denying that wisdom has no relative advantage over folly; elsewhere he affirms that wisdom does yield some relative benefits in life (7:1-22). However, wisdom cannot deliver one from death.
[6:8] 2 sn As in the preceding parallel line, this rhetorical question implies a negative answer (see the note after the word “fool” in the preceding line).
[6:8] 3 tn Heb “ What to the pauper who knows to walk before the living”; or “how to get along in life.”
[8:5] 1 tn The word “his” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for smoothness and clarity.
[8:5] 2 tn Heb “the heart of a wise man.”
[8:5] 3 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).
[12:11] 1 tn Or “goads”; NCV “sharp sticks used to guide animals.” For further information see M. A. Fishbane, Biblical Interpretation, 29–32.