Ecclesiastes 7:21

7:21 Also, do not pay attention to everything that people ¹  say;

otherwise, ²  you might even hear ³  your servant cursing you.

[7:21]  ¹ tn Heb “they”; the referent (people) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[7:21]  ² tn Heb “so that you do not hear…”; or “lest you hear….”

[7:21]  ³ tn The imperfect tense verb תִשְׁמַע (tishma’; from שָׁמַע [shama’, “to hear”]) functions in a modal sense, denoting possibility: “you might hear” (see IBHS 508 §31.4e).