1 Samuel 24:5-6

24:5 Afterward David’s conscience bothered him ¹  because he had cut off an edge of Saul’s robe. 24:6 He said to his men, “May the Lord keep me far away from doing such a thing to my lord, who is the Lord’s chosen one, ²  by extending my hand against him. After all, ³  he is the Lord’s chosen one.” ⁴ 

Pengkhotbah 8:2

8:2 Obey the king’s command, ⁵ 

because you took ⁶  an oath before God ⁷  to be loyal to him. ⁸ 

Titus 3:1-2

Conduct Toward Those Outside the Church

3:1 Remind them to be subject to rulers and ⁹  authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work. 3:2 They must not slander ¹⁰  anyone, but be peaceable, gentle, showing complete courtesy to all people.

Titus 3:1

Conduct Toward Those Outside the Church

3:1 Remind them to be subject to rulers and ¹¹  authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work.

Pengkhotbah 2:13-15

2:13 I realized that wisdom is preferable to folly, ¹² 

just as light is preferable to darkness:

2:14 The wise man can see where he is going, ¹³  but the fool walks in darkness.

Yet I also realized that the same fate ¹⁴  happens to them both. ¹⁵ 

2:15 So I thought to myself, “The fate of the fool will happen even to me! ¹⁶ 

Then what did I gain by becoming so excessively ¹⁷  wise?” ¹⁸ 

So I lamented to myself, ¹⁹ 

“The benefits of wisdom ²⁰  are ultimately ²¹  meaningless!”

[24:5]  ¹ tn Heb “the heart of David struck him.”

[24:6]  ² tn Heb “anointed.”

[24:6]  ³ tn Or “for.”

[24:6]  ⁴ tn Heb “anointed.”

[8:2]  ⁵ tc The Leningrad Codex (the basis of BHS) reads אֲנִי (’ani, 1st person common singular independent personal pronoun): “I obey the king’s command.” Other medieval Hebrew mss and all the versions (LXX, Vulgate, Targum, Syriac Peshitta) preserve an alternate textual tradition of the definite accusative marker אֶת־ (’et) introducing the direct object: אֶת־פִּי־מֶלֶךְ שְׁמוֹר (’et-pi-melekh shÿmor, “Obey the command of the king”). External evidence supports the alternate textual tradition. The MT is guilty of simple orthographic confusion between similar looking letters. The BHS editors and the Hebrew Old Testament Text Project adopt אֶת־ as the original reading. See D. Barthélemy, ed., Preliminary and Interim Report on the Hebrew Old Testament Text Project, 3:582–83.

[8:2]  ⁶ tn The phrase “you took” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for smoothness.

[8:2]  ⁷ tn The genitive-construct שְׁבוּעַת אֱלֹהִים (shÿvu’at ’elohim, “an oath of God”) functions as a genitive of location (“an oath before God”) or an adjectival genitive of attribute (“a supreme oath”).

[8:2]  ⁸ tn The words “to be loyal to him” do not appear in the Hebrew text, but are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[3:1]  ⁹ tc Most later witnesses (D² 0278 Ï lat sy) have καί (kai, “and”) after ἀρχαῖς (arcai", “rulers”), though the earliest and best witnesses (א A C D* F G Ψ 33 104 1739 1881) lack the conjunction. Although the καί is most likely not authentic, it has been added in translation due to the requirements of English style. For more discussion, see TCGNT 586.

[3:2]  ¹⁰ tn Or “discredit,” “damage the reputation of.”

[3:1]  ¹¹ tc Most later witnesses (D² 0278 Ï lat sy) have καί (kai, “and”) after ἀρχαῖς (arcai", “rulers”), though the earliest and best witnesses (א A C D* F G Ψ 33 104 1739 1881) lack the conjunction. Although the καί is most likely not authentic, it has been added in translation due to the requirements of English style. For more discussion, see TCGNT 586.

[2:13]  ¹² tn Heb “and I saw that there is profit for wisdom more than folly.”

[2:14]  ¹³ tn Heb “has his eyes in his head.” The term עַיִן (’ayin, “eye”) is used figuratively in reference to mental and spiritual faculties (BDB 744 s.v. עַיִן 3.a). The term “eye” is a metonymy of cause (eye) for effect (sight and perception).

[2:14]  ¹⁴ sn The common fate to which Qoheleth refers is death.

[2:14]  ¹⁵ tn The term כֻּלָּם (kullam, “all of them”) denotes “both of them.” This is an example of synecdoche of general (“all of them”) for the specific (“both of them,” that is, both the wise man and the fool).

[2:15]  ¹⁶ tn The emphatic use of the 1st person common singular personal pronoun אֲנִי (’ani, “me”) with the emphatic particle of association גַּם (gam, “even, as well as”; HALOT 195–96 s.v. גַּם) appears to emphasize the 1st person common singular suffix on יִקְרֵנִי (yiqreni) “it will befall [or “happen to”] me” (Qal imperfect 3rd person masculine singular + 1st person common singular suffix from קָרָה, qarah, “to befall; to happen to”); see GKC 438 §135.e. Qoheleth laments not that the fate of the wise man is the same as that of the fool, but that even he himself – the wisest man of all – would fare no better in the end than the most foolish.

[2:15]  ¹⁷ tn The adjective יוֹתֵר (yoter) means “too much; excessive,” e.g., 7:16 “excessively righteous” (HALOT 404 s.v. יוֹתֵר 2; BDB 452 s.v. יוֹתֵר). It is derived from the root יֶתֶר (yeter, “what is left over”); see HALOT 452 s.v. I יֶתֶר. It is related to the verbal root יתר (Niphal “to be left over”; Hiphil “to have left over”); see HALOT 451–52 s.v. I יתר. The adjective is related to יִתְרוֹן (yitron, “advantage; profit”) which is a key-term in this section, creating a word-play: The wise man has a relative “advantage” (יִתְרוֹן) over the fool (2:13-14a); however, there is no ultimate advantage because both share the same fate, i.e., death (2:14b-15a). Thus, Qoheleth’s acquisition of tremendous wisdom (1:16; 2:9) was “excessive” because it exceeded its relative advantage over folly: it could not deliver him from the same fate as the fool. He had striven to obtain wisdom, yet it held no ultimate advantage.

[2:15]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “And why was I wise (to) excess?” The rhetorical question is an example of negative affirmation, expecting a negative answer: “I gained nothing!” (E. W. Bullinger, Figures of Speech, 949).

[2:15]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “So I said in my heart.”

[2:15]  ²⁰ tn Heb “and also this,” referring to the relative advantage of wisdom over folly.

[2:15]  ²¹ tn The word “ultimately” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity.