Ecclesiastes 5:1 (Hebrew 4:17)
"Keep thy foot": two numberings and a ketiv/qere
Two 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.
Read Ecclesiastes 5:1 (Hebrew 4:17) in every edition
Manuscript variant: witnesses differ in wording
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✓ contains it · ✕ does not · ❝ quotes part of it · ⓘ reports on manuscripts · ▢ pages lost · – no copy survives
- Same line, through lost copies
- Translation
Every witness, in order
Often dated 4th–3rd century BC (debated)
The book as first written
No original survives. The oldest Hebrew copies of Ecclesiastes are two Qumran fragments, 4Q109 (4QQoh-a, mid-2nd century BC, reported) and 4Q110 (4QQoh-b, reported).
Jerome c. AD 398, from Hebrew; edition 1592
Latin Vulgate (Clementine)
How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Clementine Vulgate (1592 edition).
Custodi pedem tuum ingrediens domum Dei, et appropinqua ut audias. Multo enim melior est obedientia quam stultorum victimæ, qui nesciunt quid faciunt mali.
Latin numbering: Ecclesiastes 4:17. Jerome translated Ecclesiastes from Hebrew (c. AD 398), after writing a commentary on it (c. 388); the Vulgate is an indirect witness to a Hebrew text, with Jerome's interpretation.
AD 1008
Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)
How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Westminster Leningrad Codex, a digital transcription of the Leningrad Codex.
שְׁמֹ֣ר רגליך רַגְלְךָ֗ כַּאֲשֶׁ֤ר תֵּלֵךְ֙ אֶל־בֵּ֣ית הָאֱלֹהִ֔ים וְקָר֣וֹב לִשְׁמֹ֔עַ מִתֵּ֥ת הַכְּסִילִ֖ים זָ֑בַח כִּֽי־אֵינָ֥ם יוֹדְעִ֖ים לַעֲשׂ֥וֹת רָֽע׃
Guard your feet [written] / your foot [read] when you go to the house of God; drawing near to listen is better than fools giving sacrifice
Hebrew numbering: Ecclesiastes 4:17. The first highlighted word is the ketiv (written, unpointed), the second the qere (read).
1611
King James Bible
How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: King James Version (1769 text).
Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God, and be more ready to hear, than to give the sacrifice of fools: for they consider not that they do evil.
Greek translation c. 1st–2nd century AD (debated); French 1872
Greek Ecclesiastes (library: Giguet's French)
How the site knows this: Known here only through a translation.
Prends garde où tu mets le pied dans le temple du Seigneur, et approche pour écouter; ton offrande sera plus agréable que les dons des insensés, car ils ignoreront qu’ils font le mal.
Greek (digital file) numbering: Ecclesiastes 4:17. Giguet's 1872 French of a printed Greek text (D check). A C check needs the Göttingen edition of Greek Ecclesiastes (P. J. Gentry, 2019).
What changed, and why
The numbering difference is a printing convention: where to break the chapter. Hebrew editions keep the temple verse with chapter 4; Christian Bibles since the 13th-century chapter divisions begin chapter 5 with it. The site's reader and search align the two automatically (search for "Hebrew Ecclesiastes 4:17" or "Ecclesiastes 4:17").
The ketiv/qere is a textual matter within the Hebrew tradition. The written form (raglekha with a yod, plural-looking) and the read form (singular) mean almost the same: watch your step. The ancient translations read the singular, agreeing with the qere. The Leningrad Codex has twelve such notes in Ecclesiastes.
The Vulgate expands the second half: "for obedience is much better than the sacrifices of fools" (multo enim melior est obedientia quam stultorum victimae), an interpretation drawing on 1 Samuel 15:22.
What the evidence shows
- Hebrew 4:17 = English 5:1.
- The Leningrad Codex writes 'your feet' and reads 'your foot' here.
- The numbering difference is a textual variant. It is a chapter-division convention.
Sources
Related lessons
- Ecclesiastes 5: Few Words Before God →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).
- Ecclesiastes 4: Two Are Better Than One →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).