Ecclesiastes

Ecclesiastes (Hebrew Qoheleth, "the one who gathers" or "speaks in the assembly") is a royal sage's report on the search for what lasts. Its motto is "havel havalim," breath of breaths: "vanity of vanities" in older English. Qoheleth asks what profit remains from all human toil under the sun, tests pleasure, wealth and wisdom, watches the righteous die young and the wicked praised, and finds that no one can find out the work of God. Yet seven times he commends eating, drinking and joy in work as God's gift, and he speaks of fearing God and of God's judgment. A poem about a time for everything stands at its center, a poem about old age and death at its end, and a narrator's epilogue closes: "Fear God, and keep his commandments." The book does not resolve its tensions into simple optimism or pessimism; the reader is meant to meet them.

Lessons

1. 1Ecclesiastes 1: Nothing New Under the SunEcclesiastes 1 · A third-person heading introduces "the words of Qoheleth, the son of David, king in Jerusalem" (1:1). The motto follows: "havel havalim… all is hevel" (1:2), breath of breaths, vapor of vapors, "vanity of vanities" in older English. Then the question that drives the book: "What profit (yitron) hath a man of all his labour (amal) which he taketh under the sun?" (1:3). A poem shows generations passing while sun, wind and rivers go round and round (vv. 4–11). The speaker then introduces himself as a king who set out to examine everything by wisdom and found it "a pursuit of wind" (vv. 12–18).
2. 2Ecclesiastes 2: The Royal ExperimentEcclesiastes 2 · The king tests pleasure (2:1–3) and builds on a royal scale: houses, vineyards, gardens and parks, pools to water forests, slaves, herds, silver, gold, singers (vv. 4–8). He denies himself nothing, and his wisdom stays with him (vv. 9–10). Looking back, he finds "no profit under the sun" (v. 11). Wisdom is better than folly as light is better than darkness, yet wise and fool die alike and are forgotten (vv. 12–17). He hates his toil because an unknown heir will take it (vv. 18–23). The chapter ends with the book's first call to enjoy food, drink and work as gifts "from the hand of God" (vv. 24–26).
3. 3Ecclesiastes 3: A Time for EverythingEcclesiastes 3 · "To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven" (3:1). Fourteen pairs of opposites follow: born and die, plant and uproot, kill and heal… war and peace (vv. 2–8). Humans cannot see the whole: God has made everything beautiful in its time and put "eternity" (or "the world") in their hearts, yet they cannot find out his work from beginning to end (vv. 9–15). Then injustice: wickedness sits in the place of judgment (v. 16). God will judge (v. 17), but humans and animals share one fate and one breath; "who knoweth" where the human spirit goes? (vv. 18–21). So enjoy your work: it is your portion (v. 22).
4. 4Ecclesiastes 4: Two Are Better Than OneEcclesiastes 4 · Qoheleth sees the tears of the oppressed, power on the side of the oppressors, and "they had no comforter" (4:1); the dead seem better off, and the unborn best of all (vv. 2–3). He sees that much skilled work springs from envy (v. 4); the fool folds his hands and starves (v. 5), but "better is an handful with quietness, than both the hands full with travail" (v. 6). A man alone with no son or brother toils without end and never asks for whom (vv. 7–8). "Two are better than one": they help, warm and defend each other, "and a threefold cord is not quickly broken" (vv. 9–12). Finally, a poor wise youth is better than an old foolish king, yet the crowds who follow the young king will forget him too (vv. 13–16).
5. 5Ecclesiastes 5: Few Words Before GodEcclesiastes 5 (Hebrew 4:17–5:19) · In English numbering: guard your steps going to the house of God; listen rather than offer "the sacrifice of fools" (5:1). Do not rush to speak; "God is in heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let thy words be few" (v. 2). Pay what you vow (vv. 4–6) and fear God (v. 7). Oppression in a province should not surprise you: officials watch over officials (vv. 8–9). The lover of money is never satisfied (v. 10); more goods, more mouths (v. 11); the laborer sleeps sweetly, the rich man cannot (v. 12). Hoarded wealth is lost in a bad venture, and we leave as naked as we came (vv. 13–17). So it is good to eat, drink and enjoy one's work: "it is his portion," and God keeps him occupied with the joy of his heart (vv. 18–20).
6. 6Ecclesiastes 6: Wealth Without EnjoymentEcclesiastes 6 · Qoheleth describes an evil "common among men": God gives someone wealth and honor but not the power to enjoy them, and a stranger enjoys them instead (6:1–2). A man may have a hundred children and live many years, but if he is not satisfied and has no burial, a stillborn child is better off (vv. 3–5); even a thousand years twice over would not help (v. 6). Appetite is never filled (v. 7); what advantage has the wise (v. 8)? "Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the desire" (v. 9). What exists is already named; humans cannot contend with one stronger (v. 10). "Who knoweth what is good for man in this life… who can tell a man what shall be after him under the sun?" (v. 12).
7. 7Ecclesiastes 7: Better ThanEcclesiastes 7 · Chapter 7 answers 6:12 ("who knoweth what is good?") with "better than" sayings: a good name than fine oil, the day of death than the day of birth, the house of mourning than the house of feasting (7:1–4); a wise rebuke than fools' songs (vv. 5–6). Oppression and bribes corrupt the wise (v. 7); the end is better than the beginning, patience than pride (vv. 8–9); do not ask why former days were better (v. 10). Wisdom is good with an inheritance; consider God's work: who can straighten what he made crooked? (vv. 11–14). Then the hardest sayings: the righteous perishing and the wicked living long, "Be not righteous over much" (vv. 15–18), and "there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not" (v. 20). Qoheleth's search for wisdom ends with bitter words about a woman like a snare and "one man among a thousand" (vv. 23–28), and one finding: "God hath made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions" (v. 29).
8. 8Ecclesiastes 8: The King's Word and God's WorkEcclesiastes 8 · Wisdom makes the face shine (8:1). Keep the king's command because of the oath of God; do not hurry out of his presence; "where the word of a king is, there is power: and who may say unto him, What doest thou?" (vv. 2–4). There is a time and judgment for everything, but no one knows what will be or controls the day of death (vv. 5–8). Qoheleth sees the wicked buried and honored (or forgotten) in the city (v. 10); because sentence is not carried out quickly, people grow bold in evil (v. 11). He still knows "it shall be well with them that fear God" (vv. 12–13), yet sees the righteous treated as the wicked deserve and the wicked as the righteous deserve (v. 14). So he commends joy (v. 15). However hard anyone seeks, "a man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun" (vv. 16–17).
9. 9Ecclesiastes 9: Eat Your Bread with JoyEcclesiastes 9 · The righteous and the wise are in God's hand, but no one knows from events whether love or hatred awaits (9:1). One fate comes to all, righteous and wicked, clean and unclean (vv. 2–3). Yet "a living dog is better than a dead lion": the living know they will die, the dead know nothing and their memory is forgotten (vv. 4–6). So: eat your bread with joy, drink your wine with a merry heart, wear white, anoint your head, enjoy life with the wife you love, and work with all your might, for there is no work in Sheol (vv. 7–10). The race is not to the swift: "time and chance happeneth to them all" (vv. 11–12). A poor wise man saved a little city from a great king, and no one remembered him; still, wisdom is better than strength and weapons, though one sinner destroys much good (vv. 13–18).
10. 10Ecclesiastes 10: Dead Flies and Flying BirdsEcclesiastes 10 · A chapter of proverbs. Dead flies make perfume stink; a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor (10:1). The wise heart goes right, the fool's left, and the fool shows it on the road (vv. 2–3). If a ruler is angry with you, stay calm (v. 4). Qoheleth has seen an error that comes from rulers: folly set on high, the rich in low places, slaves on horses and princes walking (vv. 5–7). Digging, quarrying and woodcutting have their dangers; sharpen the axe; a snake bites before the charmer charms it (vv. 8–11). The fool talks endlessly and cannot find the way to town (vv. 12–15). Woe to a land whose king is a youth and whose princes feast in the morning (vv. 16–17); laziness lets the roof sag (v. 18); feasts are for laughter and "money answereth all things" (v. 19). Do not curse the king even in your thoughts: "a bird of the air shall carry the voice" (v. 20).
11. 11Ecclesiastes 11: Cast Your Bread upon the WatersEcclesiastes 11 · "Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days" (11:1). Give a portion to seven or eight, since you do not know what disaster will come (v. 2). Clouds empty rain when full; a tree lies where it falls (v. 3). Whoever watches the wind will never sow (v. 4). As you do not know the way of the wind (or spirit) or how bones grow in the womb, you do not know the work of God (v. 5). So sow morning and evening: you do not know which will prosper (v. 6). Light is sweet; rejoice in all your years, but remember the days of darkness (vv. 7–8). "Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth… but know thou, that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment" (v. 9). Remove vexation and evil, for youth is fleeting (v. 10).
12. 12Ecclesiastes 12: Remember Your CreatorEcclesiastes 12 · "Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not" (12:1). A poem follows of darkening lights and returning clouds (v. 2); a great house where the keepers tremble, the strong men bend, the grinding women stop and the watchers at the windows grow dim (vv. 3–4); fear of heights, the almond blossoming, the grasshopper dragging itself, the caper berry failing, "because man goeth to his long home, and the mourners go about the streets" (v. 5); the silver cord, the golden bowl, the pitcher at the spring and the wheel at the cistern broken (v. 6); "Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it" (v. 7). The motto returns: "Vanity of vanities… all is vanity" (v. 8). Then a third-person epilogue describes Qoheleth as a wise teacher (vv. 9–10), praises the goads and nails of the wise (v. 11), warns against endless books (v. 12), and concludes: "Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment" (vv. 13–14).
13. 13Investigation: Who Was Qoheleth?Ecclesiastes 1:1, 12–16; 2:4–11; 7:27; 12:8–10; 1 Kings 3–11 · The book calls its speaker Qoheleth, "son of David, king in Jerusalem," and never names Solomon. Jewish and Christian tradition long read it as Solomon's. Most modern scholars date its Hebrew to the Persian or Hellenistic period (roughly 5th–3rd centuries BC) and read the royal voice as a literary persona. This investigation separates the categories that are often blurred: the title, the persona, the narrator who frames him, the historical author, and the date of the earliest copies.
14. 14Investigation: What Does Hevel Actually Mean?Ecclesiastes 1:2, 14; 2:15–26; 3:19; 6:4, 12; 8:14; 9:9; 11:10; 12:8 · Hevel is literally "breath" or "vapor." It occurs 38 times in Ecclesiastes (30 verses), more than in the rest of the Hebrew Bible combined. English Bibles have rendered it "vanity," "meaningless," "futile," "absurd," "fleeting" and "enigma." This investigation groups every occurrence by what it is applied to and shows why no single English word fits them all.
15. 15Investigation: Is Wisdom a Promise? Qoheleth, Job and ProverbsEcclesiastes 2:12–16; 7:15; 8:14; 9:11; Proverbs 3:1–10; 10:27; Job 21; 28; 38–42 · Proverbs teaches that wisdom, righteousness and diligence tend toward life, honor and plenty. Job tests that pattern with an innocent sufferer; Ecclesiastes tests it with observation of the righteous dying young and the wicked living long. The three books are not contradictions to be harmonized away, nor a manuscript problem; they are a conversation within one canon about how far wisdom can be relied on.
16. 16Investigation: The Gilgamesh ConnectionEcclesiastes 9:7–10; 4:9–12; Epic of Gilgamesh (Old Babylonian Sippar tablet); Bilgamesh and Huwawa · Two passages of Ecclesiastes have strikingly close parallels in the Gilgamesh tradition: Siduri's advice to enjoy food, festivity, clean clothes and family in the face of death (Old Babylonian version) beside Ecclesiastes 9:7–9, and the saying about a three-ply rope (Sumerian Bilgamesh and Huwawa) beside 4:12. This investigation identifies which versions contain them, how old they are, and what can and cannot be concluded.
17. 17Investigation: Egypt, Greece and QohelethEcclesiastes 2:24; 3:1–15; 9:7–12; 11:1; 12:1–7 · Scholars have compared Ecclesiastes with Egyptian harpers' songs and instructions, with Babylonian dialogues, and with Greek thinkers (Theognis, Epicurus, the Stoics, the Cynics). Some argued for direct Greek influence; others see a thoroughly Hebrew book using international wisdom themes. This investigation sets out the main comparisons and why caution is needed.
18. 18Investigation: Injustice Under the SunEcclesiastes 3:16–17; 4:1–3; 5:8–9; 7:15; 8:9–14; 9:1–3, 13–16; 10:5–7 · Ecclesiastes looks at injustice more directly than any other wisdom book: wickedness in the courts, tears of the oppressed with no comforter, layers of officials, the righteous perishing and the wicked praised, the poor wise man forgotten, fools in high places. It holds three things in tension: what Qoheleth sees, what he believes about God's judgment, and the limits of human knowledge.
19. 19Investigation: The Gift of EnjoymentEcclesiastes 2:24–26; 3:12–13, 22; 5:18–20; 8:15; 9:7–10; 11:7–10 · Seven times Ecclesiastes says there is nothing better than to eat, drink and find joy in one's work, and it calls this "the gift of God" and a person's "portion" (heleq). Some have read these passages as resignation ("since nothing lasts, grab what you can"), others as editorial patches, others as the book's positive message. This investigation reads all seven together.
20. 20Investigation: The Fate of Humans and AnimalsEcclesiastes 3:18–22; 9:1–10; 12:7; Genesis 2:7; 3:19; Job 14; Psalms 49; 88 · Ecclesiastes speaks of death more than any other book of the Bible: one fate for wise and fool (2:14–16), for humans and animals (3:19–20), for righteous and wicked (9:2–3); the dead know nothing (9:5); there is no work in Sheol (9:10); the dust returns to the earth and the ruach to God (12:7). This investigation reads these passages in their Hebrew setting and separates them from later doctrines of the afterlife.
21. 21Investigation: Time, Eternity and the Limits of KnowingEcclesiastes 1:4–11; 3:1–15; 6:10–12; 7:14, 23–24; 8:7, 16–17; 9:1, 11–12; 10:14; 11:2, 5–6 · Ecclesiastes is a book about time: generations passing, fourteen pairs of times, eternity in the heart, the evil time that falls suddenly. It is also a book about knowing: again and again humans "cannot find out" God's work or know what comes after. This investigation traces both themes and the key words et (time) and olam (eternity, world).
22. 22Investigation: Ecclesiastes at QumranEcclesiastes 1:10–15; 5:13–17; 6:3–8, 12; 7:1–10, 19–20 · Cave 4 at Qumran yielded two fragmentary Hebrew manuscripts of Ecclesiastes: 4Q109 (4QQoh-a) and 4Q110 (4QQoh-b). 4Q109, dated by its script to the mid-2nd century BC, is among the oldest surviving manuscripts of any biblical book. This investigation reports what is known, what is only reported, and what the site has not yet checked.
23. 23Investigation: Greek Ecclesiastes, a Different Kind of TranslationEcclesiastes 1:2, 14; 2:25; 3:11, 21; 5:6; 8:10, 12; 11:9; 12:5 · Greek Ecclesiastes is unusually literal, unlike the free Greek of Proverbs or the shorter Greek of Job. It even renders the Hebrew object marker et with the Greek preposition syn, a hallmark of the 2nd-century AD Jewish translator Aquila. Scholars debate whether it is Aquila's own early work, a translation from his school, or an earlier translation revised in that style. This investigation explains the evidence and lists the places where the library's Greek differs meaningfully from the Hebrew.
24. 24Investigation: The Finale, the Canon and Reading Ecclesiastes as ScriptureEcclesiastes 1:1–2; 7:27; 12:8–14; Mishnah Yadayim 3:5; Talmud Shabbat 30b · Ecclesiastes is framed by a third-person voice (1:1–2; 12:8–14) that presents Qoheleth's words and ends with "Fear God, and keep his commandments." The rabbis debated whether the book "defiles the hands" (has scriptural sanctity) and why it contradicts itself, and kept it. It is read at Sukkot, placed among the Writings in Jewish Bibles and among the wisdom books in Christian Bibles. It is not the same book as Ecclesiasticus (Sirach).

How Ecclesiastes came to us

Who wrote it, how it was copied, and how it reached the Bible you hold. These lessons follow the book through history.

1. ★How Ecclesiastes Came to UsEcclesiastes grew out of an international wisdom tradition, was written in late biblical Hebrew by a Judean sage speaking in Solomon's voice (most scholars: Persian or Hellenistic period), framed by a narrator, and copied by the 2nd century BC (Qumran). It was translated into a very literal Greek (1st–2nd century AD), into Syriac, Aramaic (the Targum) and Latin (Jerome), debated by the rabbis and kept, preserved by the Masoretes in medieval codices, and printed, translated and studied to this day.
2. 6The SeptuagintJews in Egypt translated their Scriptures into Greek, creating the Bible of the early church and of the New Testament writers.
3. 7The Dead Sea ScrollsA shepherd's discovery in 1947 gave us Bible manuscripts a thousand years older than any known before, and showed how faithfully the text was kept.
4. 13Scribes, Jerome, and the MasoretesJerome gave the West its Latin Bible; Jewish scholars called the Masoretes guarded the Hebrew text letter by letter.

Journey of a Passage

• ¶Ecclesiastes 1:1–2: "The words of Qoheleth… havel havalim"The heading names the speaker Qoheleth, "son of David, king in Jerusalem," and the motto declares "all is hevel." The Hebrew has five hevel-words in one verse. Greek and Latin render Qoheleth as Ecclesiastes and hevel as mataiotes / vanitas, the source of English "vanity." The library's Greek adds "of Israel" to the king's title.
• ¶Ecclesiastes 1:3: "What profit hath a man of all his labour?"The book's governing question uses two key words: yitron (surplus, what is left over) and amal (toil). "Under the sun" occurs here for the first of 29 times. The witnesses agree; the English words chosen shape how the question sounds.
• ¶Ecclesiastes 1:9–11: "There is no new thing under the sun""The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be… and there is no new thing under the sun." The witnesses agree on the sense, but the library's Greek divides the verses differently, placing "there is nothing new under the sun" at the start of 1:10. The Qumran fragment 4Q110 is reported to preserve parts of 1:10–15.
• ¶Ecclesiastes 2:8: "Shiddah ve-shiddot": concubines, cupbearers, cups or instruments?The last two words of 2:8 occur nowhere else in Hebrew. Every library witness translates them differently: the Greek "male and female cupbearers," the Vulgate "cups and pitchers for pouring wine," the KJV "musical instruments, and that of all sorts," and many modern versions "concubines" or "a harem." This is one rare word read in four ways, not four Hebrew texts.
• ¶Ecclesiastes 2:24–26: "From the hand of God": and who can eat apart from him?The first call to enjoy food, drink and work as God's gift. In verse 25 the Masoretic Text reads "who can eat or who can enjoy, more than I (mimmenni)?" while the library's Greek reads "apart from him" (without God's permission). The Syriac is reported to agree with the Greek; the Vulgate follows the Hebrew.
• ¶Ecclesiastes 3:1–8: "A time to be born, and a time to die"Fourteen pairs of opposites, 28 occurrences of "time" (et) in verses 2–8, after a heading that uses both zeman and et. All witnesses agree. The poem describes the seasons of human life; it does not command each action.
• ¶Ecclesiastes 3:11: "He hath set the world (or eternity) in their heart"One Hebrew word, ha-olam, read four ways: "eternity" (most modern versions), "the world" (KJV, the library's Greek, the Vulgate), "a sense of duration / past and future" (NRSV), or, with different vowels, "hiddenness / ignorance" (some scholars). The consonants are the same in every witness.
• ¶Ecclesiastes 3:19–21: "Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward?"Humans and animals share one fate and one breath (ruach); all go to one place, from dust to dust. Verse 21 is read two ways from the same letters: the Masoretic vowels make it a statement about two spirits ("the spirit of man that goeth upward"), the Greek and Latin a question ("who knows whether it goes upward?").
• ¶Ecclesiastes 4:1–3: "They had no comforter"Qoheleth sees the tears of the oppressed and power on the side of the oppressors, and says twice "they had no comforter." The dead, and the unborn, seem better off. The witnesses agree. The question is how to read the bleakness: as protest, not as a recommendation.
• ¶Ecclesiastes 4:9–12: "A threefold cord is not quickly broken"Two are better than one: they lift each other up, keep each other warm and stand together; and "a threefold cord is not quickly broken." All witnesses agree. A very similar proverb appears in the Sumerian poem Bilgamesh and Huwawa, centuries older.
• ¶Ecclesiastes 5:1 (Hebrew 4:17): "Keep thy foot": two numberings and a ketiv/qereTwo separate things meet in this verse. First, numbering: Hebrew Bibles print it as 4:17, English Bibles as 5:1 (so English 5:2–20 = Hebrew 5:1–19). Second, a real reading note in the Hebrew: the written consonants spell "your feet" (ketiv), but the Masoretic vowels and margin direct the reader to say "your foot" (qere). The Greek, Latin and KJV all have the singular.
• ¶Ecclesiastes 5:6–9: The "messenger" and "a king to a field"Two hard sentences. In 5:6 (Hebrew 5:5) one should not tell "the messenger" (mal'akh) that a broken vow was a mistake: the library's Greek reads "before God," the Vulgate "before the angel." In 5:9 (Hebrew 5:8) the Hebrew is so terse that the witnesses produce four different sentences; it also carries a ketiv/qere note.
• ¶Ecclesiastes 6:10–12: "Who knoweth what is good for man?"The closing questions of the book's first half: what exists is already named; humans cannot contend with "one mightier"; who knows what is good in a life spent like a shadow, or what comes after? Greek and Latin Bibles number 6:12 as 7:1. The Hebrew has a ketiv/qere note in 6:10. The Qumran fragment 4Q109 is reported to preserve part of 6:12.
• ¶Ecclesiastes 7:1–4: "A good name is better than precious ointment"The "better than" sayings begin with a Hebrew sound-play: tov shem mi-shemen tov, "better a name than good oil." Death's day is better than birth's; the house of mourning better than the house of feasting. Greek and Latin Bibles number these verses 7:2–5. The Qumran fragment 4Q109 (mid-2nd century BC) is reported to preserve parts of 7:1–10.
• ¶Ecclesiastes 7:15–20: "Be not righteous over much"The righteous perish and the wicked live long (v. 15); so "be not righteous over much… be not over much wicked" (vv. 16–17); the one who fears God comes through (v. 18); "there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not" (v. 20). The witnesses agree on the wording; the meaning of v. 16 is one of the book's great debates. Paul's "there is none righteous" (Romans 3:10) may echo v. 20.
• ¶Ecclesiastes 7:26–29: "One man among a thousand" and a feminine verbQoheleth finds "more bitter than death the woman, whose heart is snares" (v. 26), says he found one man (adam) in a thousand but no woman (v. 28), and concludes that God made humankind upright, but they sought many schemes (v. 29). In v. 27 the Hebrew has a feminine verb with Qoheleth (amerah qohelet); most scholars redivide the letters as amar ha-qohelet, as in 12:8. The Greek adds "this folly" in v. 26.
• ¶Ecclesiastes 8:10–14: The wicked buried: "forgotten" or "praised"?A real difference between witnesses. The Masoretic Text says the wicked were "forgotten" (ve-yishtakkechu) in the city; the library's Greek and the Vulgate say they were "praised" (ve-yishtabbechu, one letter different), and so do many modern versions. Verses 12–14 then set faith ("it shall be well with them that fear God") beside observation (the righteous treated as the wicked deserve).
• ¶Ecclesiastes 9:5–10: "Eat thy bread with joy" and Siduri's adviceThe dead know nothing and have no more portion under the sun (vv. 5–6); so eat, drink, wear white, anoint your head, enjoy life with the wife you love, and work with all your might, for there is no work in Sheol (vv. 7–10). The witnesses agree. A strikingly similar speech by the ale-wife Siduri appears in the Old Babylonian Gilgamesh; it is described here, not quoted, and is not in the later Standard Babylonian version.
• ¶Ecclesiastes 9:11–18: "Time and chance" and the poor wise man"The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong… but time and chance happeneth to them all" (v. 11). Then a story: a poor wise man saved a little city from a great king, and no one remembered him (vv. 13–16). The Hebrew, Latin and English agree; the library's French of the Greek reads "peace" for "bread" in v. 11, probably a misprint (paix for pain).
• ¶Ecclesiastes 11:1–6: "Cast thy bread upon the waters""Send your bread on the face of the waters, for after many days you will find it" (11:1). Commercial reading: send goods by sea and diversify (v. 2). Charitable reading: give generously without calculation. Verses 3–6 teach action under uncertainty. In v. 5 some Hebrew manuscripts and the Targum are reported to read "into the bones" for "like the bones."
• ¶Ecclesiastes 12:1–7: "Or ever the silver cord be loosed"The closing poem: remember your Creator before the house falls silent, the almond blossoms, the caper fails, and the silver cord, golden bowl, jar and wheel break; dust returns to the earth and the breath to God. The witnesses agree on most words; they differ on rare ones (aviyonah: "caper" in Greek and Latin, "desire" in the KJV) and the Hebrew has a ketiv/qere in 12:6 (written "be removed," read "be snapped").
• ¶Ecclesiastes 12:8–14: "Fear God, and keep his commandments"The motto returns (v. 8) and a third-person epilogue speaks about Qoheleth: wise, a teacher who weighed and arranged many proverbs (vv. 9–10); the words of the wise are goads and nails from "one shepherd" (v. 11); there is no end of making books (v. 12); "Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man" (v. 13); God will judge every hidden thing (v. 14). The witnesses agree in substance; translations differ in v. 12 and in how to render kol ha-adam.