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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadBullinger Companion Bible Notes - Ecclesiastes 12:5 - 12:5
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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
afraid: i.e. of ascending heights.
high = lofty, elevated.
fears shall be in the way: i.e. apprehensions of danger in journeying.
almond tree shall flourish: i.e. grey hairs shall grow scanty, or drop off, not "almond nuts be rejected"; for the teeth and eating have already been dealt with in Ecc_12:3.
grasshopper, or locust.
shall be a burden = shall become burdensome: i.e. as to weight.
desire shall fail. "Desire" = Hebrew = the caperberry. Here the Authorized Version beautifully renders the figure of speech (as a version should do), while the Revised Version renders it literally (as a translation too often does). The Figure of speech is Metalepsis: i.e. a double Metonymy (App-6), by which (1) the "caperberry" is put for the condiment made from it, and then (2) thecondiment is put for the appetite produced by it. And further, since, because of its shape, as well as from the notion that it was supposed to create sexual desire, all that is intended by the figure is included in the rendering "desire shall fail".
man. Hebrew. 'ddam (with Art). App-14. See note on Ecc_1:13.