Ecclesiastes 7:14

7:14 In times of prosperity ¹  be joyful,

but in times of adversity ²  consider this:

God has made one as well as the other, ³ 

so that no one can discover what the future holds. ⁴ 

Ecclesiastes 7:26

7:26 I discovered this: ⁵ 

More bitter than death is the kind of ⁶  woman ⁷  who is like a hunter’s snare; ⁸ 

her heart is like a hunter’s net and her hands are like prison chains.

The man who pleases God escapes her,

but the sinner is captured by her.

[7:14]  ¹ tn Heb “the day of good.”

[7:14]  ² tn Heb “the day of evil.”

[7:14]  ³ tn Less probable renderings of this line are “God hath made the one side by side with the other” (ASV) and “God has set the one alongside the other” (NEB).

[7:14]  ⁴ tn Heb “anything after him.” This line is misinterpreted by several versions: “that man may not find against him any just complaint” (Douay); “consequently, man may find no fault with Him” (NJPS); “so that man cannot find fault with him in anything” (NAB).

[7:26]  ⁵ tn The word “this” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for smoothness.

[7:26]  ⁶ tn The phrase “kind of” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity (see the following note on the word “woman”).

[7:26]  ⁷ tn The article on הָאִשָּׁה (ha’ishah) functions in a particularizing sense (“the kind of woman”) rather than in a generic sense (i.e., “women”).

[7:26]  ⁸ tn Heb “is snares.” The plural form מְצוֹדִים (mÿtsodim, from the noun I מָצוֹד, matsod, “snare”) is used to connote either intensity, repeated or habitual action, or moral characteristic. For the function of the Hebrew plural, see IBHS 120-21 §7.4.2. The term II מָצוֹד “snare” is used in a concrete sense in reference to the hunter’s snare or net, but in a figurative sense of being ensnared by someone (Job 19:6; Prov 12:12; Eccl 7:26).