Ecclesiastes 7:3-5

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. Ecclesiastes 7:3 tn NEB suggests “grief”; NJPS, “vexation.”
2. Ecclesiastes 7:3 tn Heb “in sadness of face there is good for the heart.”
3. Ecclesiastes 7:3 tn Or possibly “Though the face is sad, the heart may be glad.”
4. Ecclesiastes 7:4 sn The expression the house of merrymaking refers to a banquet where those who attend engage in self-indulgent feasting and riotous drinking.
5. Ecclesiastes 7:5 tn Heb “hear.”
6. Ecclesiastes 7:5 tn Heb “rebuke of the wise,” a subjective genitive (“the wise” administer the rebuke).
7. Ecclesiastes 7:5 tn Or “praise.” The antithetical parallelism between “rebuke” (גַּעֲרַת, gaʿarat) 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, s^ekhoq) in 7:6 suggests simply frivolous merrymaking: “song of fools” (KJV, NASB, NIV, ASV, RSV, NRSV).