Discovery BoxEcclesiastes 1:16 
Context“I have become much wiser 2 than any of my predecessors who ruled 3 over Jerusalem; 4
I 5 have acquired much wisdom and knowledge.” 6
Ecclesiastes 6:8
Context6:8 So what advantage does a wise man have over a fool? 7
And what advantage 8 does a pauper gain by knowing how to survive? 9
1 tn Heb “I spoke, I, with my heart.”
2 tn Heb “I, look, I have made great and increased wisdom.” The expression הִגְדַּלְתִּי וְהוֹסַפְתִּי (higdalti vÿhosafti) is a verbal hendiadys; it means that Qoheleth had become the wisest man in the history of Jerusalem.
3 tn The phrase “who ruled” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity.
4 map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.
5 tn Heb “my heart” (לִבִּי, libbi). The term “heart” is a metonymy of part for the whole (“my heart” = myself).
6 tn Heb “My heart has seen much wisdom and knowledge.”
7 sn So what advantage does the wise man have over a fool? The rhetorical question in Hebrew implies a negative answer: the wise man has no absolute advantage over a fool in the sense that both will share the same fate: death. Qoheleth should not be misunderstood here as denying that wisdom has no relative advantage over folly; elsewhere he affirms that wisdom does yield some relative benefits in life (7:1-22). However, wisdom cannot deliver one from death.
8 sn As in the preceding parallel line, this rhetorical question implies a negative answer (see the note after the word “fool” in the preceding line).
9 tn Heb “ What to the pauper who knows to walk before the living”; or “how to get along in life.”
