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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - Ecclesiastes 7:21 - 7:21
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“Also give not thy heart to all the words which one speaketh, lest thou shouldest hear thy servant curse thee. For thy heart knoweth in many cases that thou also hast cursed others.” The talk of the people, who are the indef. subj. of יְלַבֵּרוּ (lxx, Targ., Syr. supply ἀσεβεῖς), is not about “thee who givest heed to the counsels just given” (Hitz., Zöckl.), for the restrictive עָלֶיךָ is wanting; and why should a servant be zealous to utter imprecations on the conduct of his master, which rests on the best maxims? It is the babbling of the people in general that is meant. To this one ought not to turn his heart (לְ ... נָתַן, as at Ecc 1:13, Ecc 1:17; Ecc 8:9, Ecc 8:16), i.e., gives wilful attention, ne (לֹא אֲשֶׁר = פֶּן, which does not occur in the Book of Koheleth) audias servum tuum tibi maledicere; the particip. expression of the pred. obj. follows the analogy of Gen 21:9, Ewald, §284b, and is not a Graecism; for since in this place hearing is meant, not immediately, but mediated through others, the expression would not in good Greek be with the lxx ... τοῦ δούλου σου καταρωμένου σε, but τὸν δοῦλόν σου καταρᾶσθαι σε. The warning has its motive in this, that by such roundabout hearing one generally hears most unpleasant things; and on hearsay no reliance can be placed. Such gossiping one should ignore, should not listen to it at all; and if, nevertheless, something so bad is reported as that our own servant has spoken words of imprecation against us, yet we ought to pass that by unheeded, well knowing that we ourselves have often spoken harsh words against others. The expression וגו יָדַע, “thou art conscious to thyself that,” is like פְּעָ רַ, 1Ki 2:44, not the obj. accus. dependent on ידע (Hitz.), “many cases where also thou ...,” but the adv. accus. of time to קִּלַּלְתָּ; the words are inverted (Ewald, §336b), the style of Koheleth being fond of thus giving prominence to the chief conception (Ecc 7:20, Ecc 5:18; Ecc 3:13). The first gam, although it belongs to “thine, thy,” as at Ecc 7:22 it is also connected with “thou,”
(Note: גַּם־אַתָּ, on account of the half pause, accented on the penult. according to the Masora.)
stands at the beginning of the sentence, after such syntactical examples as Hos 6:11; Zec 9:11; and even with a two-membered sentence, Job 2:10.