Discovery BoxEcclesiastes 7:2-6
Context7:2 It is better to go to a funeral 1
than a feast. 2
For death 3 is the destiny 4 of every person, 5
and the living should 6 take this 7 to heart.
7:3 Sorrow 8 is better than laughter,
because sober reflection 9 is good for the heart. 10
7:4 The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning,
but the heart of fools is in the house of merrymaking. 11
7:5 It is better for a person to receive 12 a rebuke from those who are wise 13
than to listen to the song 14 of fools.
7:6 For like the crackling of quick-burning thorns 15 under a cooking pot,
so is the laughter of the fool.
This kind of folly 16 also is useless. 17
Proverbs 14:13
Context14:13 Even in laughter the heart may ache, 18
and the end 19 of joy may be 20 grief.
Isaiah 22:12-13
Context22:12 At that time the sovereign master, the Lord who commands armies, called for weeping and mourning,
for shaved heads and sackcloth. 21
22:13 But look, there is outright celebration! 22
You say, “Kill the ox and slaughter the sheep,
eat meat and drink wine.
Eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!” 23
Amos 6:3-6
Context6:3 You refuse to believe a day of disaster will come, 24
but you establish a reign of violence. 25
6:4 They lie around on beds decorated with ivory, 26
and sprawl out on their couches.
They eat lambs from the flock,
and calves from the middle of the pen.
6:5 They sing 27 to the tune of 28 stringed instruments; 29
like David they invent 30 musical instruments.
6:6 They drink wine from sacrificial bowls, 31
and pour the very best oils on themselves. 32
Yet they are not concerned over 33 the ruin 34 of Joseph.
Amos 6:1
Context6:1 Woe 35 to those who live in ease in Zion, 36
to those who feel secure on Mount Samaria.
They think of themselves as 37 the elite class of the best nation.
The family 38 of Israel looks to them for leadership. 39
Amos 4:2-4
Context4:2 The sovereign Lord confirms this oath by his own holy character: 40
“Certainly the time is approaching 41
when you will be carried away 42 in baskets, 43
every last one of you 44 in fishermen’s pots. 45
4:3 Each of you will go straight through the gaps in the walls; 46
you will be thrown out 47 toward Harmon.” 48
The Lord is speaking!
4:4 “Go to Bethel 49 and rebel! 50
At Gilgal 51 rebel some more!
Bring your sacrifices in 52 the morning,
your tithes on 53 the third day!
[7:2] 1 tn Heb “house of mourning.” The phrase refers to a funeral where the deceased is mourned.
[7:2] 2 tn Heb “house of drinking”; or “house of feasting.” The Hebrew noun מִשְׁתֶּה (mishteh) can denote (1) “feast; banquet,” occasion for drinking-bouts (1 Sam 25:36; Isa 5:12; Jer 51:39; Job 1:5; Esth 2:18; 5:14; 8:17; 9:19) or (2) “drink” (exilic/postexilic – Ezra 3:7; Dan 1:5, 8, 16); see HALOT 653 s.v. מִשְׁתֶּה 4; BDB 1059 s.v. שָׁתַה.
[7:2] 3 tn Heb “it”; the referent (“death”) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[7:2] 4 tn Heb “the end.” The noun סוֹף (sof) literally means “end; conclusion” (HALOT 747 s.v. סוֹף 1; BDB 693 s.v. סוֹף). It is used in this context in reference to death, as the preceding phrase “house of mourning” (i.e., funeral) suggests.
[7:2] 5 tn Heb “all men” or “every man.”
[7:2] 6 tn The imperfect tense verb יִתֵּן, yitten (from נָתָן, natan, “to give”) functions in a modal sense, denoting obligation, that is, the subject’s obligatory or necessary conduct: “should” or “ought to” (see R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 31-32, §172; IBHS 508-9 §31.4g).
[7:2] 7 tn The word “this” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for smoothness.
[7:3] 8 tn NEB suggests “grief”; NJPS, “vexation.”
[7:3] 9 tn Heb “in sadness of face there is good for the heart.”
[7:3] 10 tn Or possibly “Though the face is sad, the heart may be glad.”
[7:4] 11 sn The expression the house of merrymaking refers to a banquet where those who attend engage in self-indulgent feasting and riotous drinking.
[7:5] 13 tn Heb “rebuke of the wise,” a subjective genitive (“the wise” administer the rebuke).
[7:5] 14 tn Or “praise.” The antithetical parallelism between “rebuke” (גַּעֲרַת, ga’arat) and “song” (שִׁיר, shir) suggests that the latter is figurative (metonymy of association) for praise/flattery which is “music” to the ears: “praise of fools” (NEB, NJPS) and “flattery of fools” (Douay). However, the collocation of “song” (שִׁיר) in 7:5 with “laughter” (שְׂחֹק, sÿkhoq) in 7:6 suggests simply frivolous merrymaking: “song of fools” (KJV, NASB, NIV, ASV, RSV, NRSV).
[7:6] 15 tn The term “thorns” (הַסִּירִים, hassirim) refers to twigs from wild thorn bushes which were used as fuel for quick heat, but burn out quickly before a cooking pot can be properly heated (e.g., Pss 58:9; 118:12).
[7:6] 16 tn The word “kind of folly” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity.
[7:6] 17 tn It is difficult to determine whether the Hebrew term הֶבֶל (hevel) means “fleeting” or “useless” in this context. The imagery of quick-burning thorns under a cooking pot is ambiguous and can be understood in more than one way: (1) It is useless to try to heat a cooking pot by burning thorns because they burn out before the pot can be properly heated; (2) the heat produced by quick-burning thorns is fleeting – it produces quick heat, but lasts only for a moment. Likewise, the “laughter of a fool” can be taken in both ways: (1) In comparison to the sober reflection of the wise, the laughter of fools is morally useless: the burning of thorns, like the laughter of fools, makes a lot of noise but accomplishes nothing; (2) the laughter of fools is fleeting due to the brevity of life and certainty of death. Perhaps this is an example of intentional ambiguity.
[14:13] 18 sn No joy is completely free of grief. There is a joy that is superficial and there is underlying pain that will remain after the joy is gone.
[14:13] 19 tn Heb “and its end, joy, is grief.” The suffix may be regarded as an Aramaism, a proleptic suffix referring to “joy.”
[14:13] 20 tn The phrase “may be” is not in the Hebrew but is supplied from the parallelism, which features an imperfect of possibility.
[22:12] 21 tn Heb “for baldness and the wearing of sackcloth.” See the note at 15:2.
[22:13] 22 tn Heb “happiness and joy.”
[22:13] 23 tn The prophet here quotes what the fatalistic people are saying. The introductory “you say” is supplied in the translation for clarification; the concluding verb “we die” makes it clear the people are speaking. The six verbs translated as imperatives are actually infinitives absolute, functioning here as finite verbs.
[6:3] 24 tn Heb “those who push away a day of disaster.”
[6:3] 25 tn Heb “you bring near a seat of violence.” The precise meaning of the Hebrew term שֶׁבֶת (shevet, “seat, sitting”) is unclear in this context. The translation assumes that it refers to a throne from which violence (in the person of the oppressive leaders) reigns. Another option is that the expression refers not to the leaders’ oppressive rule, but to the coming judgment when violence will overtake the nation in the person of enemy invaders.
[6:4] 26 tn Heb “beds of ivory.”
[6:5] 27 tn The meaning of the Hebrew verb פָּרַט (parat), which occurs only here in the OT, is unclear. Some translate “strum,” “pluck,” or “improvise.”
[6:5] 28 tn Heb “upon the mouth of,” that is, “according to.”
[6:5] 29 sn The stringed instruments mentioned here are probably harps (cf. NIV, NRSV) or lutes (cf. NEB).
[6:5] 30 tn The meaning of the Hebrew phrase חָשְׁבוּ לָהֶם (khoshvu lahem) is uncertain. Various options include: (1) “they think their musical instruments are like David’s”; (2) “they consider themselves musicians like David”; (3) “they esteem musical instruments highly like David”; (4) “they improvise [new songs] for themselves [on] instruments like David”; (5) “they invent musical instruments like David.” However, the most commonly accepted interpretation is that given in the translation (see S. M. Paul, Amos [Hermeneia], 206-7).
[6:6] 31 sn Perhaps some religious rite is in view, or the size of the bowls is emphasized (i.e., bowls as large as sacrificial bowls).
[6:6] 32 tn Heb “with the best of oils they anoint [themselves].”
[6:6] 33 tn Or “not sickened by.”
[6:6] 34 sn The ruin of Joseph may refer to the societal disintegration in Israel, or to the effects of the impending judgment.
[6:1] 35 tn On the Hebrew term הוֹי (hoy; “ah, woe”) as a term of mourning, see the notes in 5:16, 18.
[6:1] 36 sn Zion is a reference to Jerusalem.
[6:1] 37 tn The words “They think of themselves as” are supplied in the translation for clarification. In the Hebrew text the term נְקֻבֵי (nÿquvey; “distinguished ones, elite”) is in apposition to the substantival participles in the first line.
[6:1] 39 tn Heb “comes to them.”
[4:2] 40 tn Heb “swears by his holiness.”
[4:2] 41 tn Heb “Look, certainly days are coming upon you”; NRSV “the time is surely coming upon you.”
[4:2] 42 tn Heb “one will carry you away”; NASB “they will take you away.”
[4:2] 43 tn The meaning of the Hebrew word translated “baskets” is uncertain. The translation follows the suggestion of S. M. Paul (Amos [Hermeneia], 128), who discusses the various options (130-32): “shields” (cf. NEB); “ropes”; “thorns,” which leads to the most favored interpretation, “hooks” (cf. NASB “meat hooks”; NIV, NRSV “hooks”); “baskets,” and (derived from “baskets”) “boats.” Against the latter, it is unlikely that Amos envisioned a deportation by boat for the inhabitants of Samaria! See also the note on the expression “fishermen’s pots” later in this verse.
[4:2] 44 tn Or “your children”; KJV “your posterity.”
[4:2] 45 tn The meaning of the Hebrew expression translated “in fishermen’s pots” is uncertain. The translation follows that of S. M. Paul (Amos [Hermeneia], 128), who discusses the various options (132-33): “thorns,” understood by most modern interpreters to mean (by extension) “fishhooks” (cf. NASB, NIV, NRSV); “boats,” but as mentioned in the previous note on the word “baskets,” a deportation of the Samaritans by boat is geographically unlikely; and “pots,” referring to a container used for packing fish (cf. NEB “fish-baskets”). Paul (p. 134) argues that the imagery comes from the ancient fishing industry. When hauled away into exile, the women of Samaria will be like fish packed and transported to market.
[4:3] 46 tn Heb “and [through the] breaches you will go out, each straight ahead.”
[4:3] 47 tn The Hiphil verb form has no object. It may be intransitive (F. I. Andersen and D. N. Freedman, Amos [AB], 425), though many emend it to a Hophal.
[4:3] 48 tn The meaning of this word is unclear. Many understand it as a place name, though such a location is not known. Some (e.g., H. W. Wolff, Joel and Amos [Hermeneia[, 204) emend to “Hermon” or to similarly written words, such as “the dung heap” (NEB, NJPS), “the garbage dump” (NCV), or “the fortress” (cf. NLT “your fortresses”).
[4:4] 49 sn Bethel and Gilgal were important formal worship centers because of their importance in Israel’s history. Here the Lord ironically urges the people to visit these places so they can increase their sin against him. Their formal worship, because it was not accompanied by social justice, only made them more guilty in God’s sight by adding hypocrisy to their list of sins. Obviously, theirs was a twisted view of the Lord. They worshiped a god of their own creation in order to satisfy their religious impulses (see 4:5: “For you love to do this”). Note that none of the rituals listed in 4:4-5 have to do with sin.
[4:4] 50 tn The Hebrew word translated “rebel” (also in the following line) could very well refer here to Israel’s violations of their covenant with God (see also the term “crimes” in 1:3 [with note] and the phrase “covenant transgressions” in 2:4 [with note]; 3:14).
