Discovery BoxEcclesiastes 10:12-13 
Context10:12 The words of a wise person 1 win him 2 favor, 3
but the words 4 of a fool are self-destructive. 5
10:13 At the beginning his words 6 are foolish
and at the end 7 his talk 8 is wicked madness, 9
Ecclesiastes 10:20
Context10:20 Do not curse a king even in your thoughts,
and do not curse the rich 10 while in your bedroom; 11
1 tn Heb “of a wise man’s mouth.”
2 tn The phrase “win him” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied in the translation for clarity.
3 tn Or “are gracious.” The antithetical parallelism suggests that חֵן (khen) does not denote “gracious character” but “[gain] favor” (e.g., Gen 39:21; Exod 3:21; 11:3; 12:36; Prov 3:4, 34; 13:15; 22:1; 28:23; Eccl 9:11); cf. HALOT 332 s.v. חֵן 2; BDB 336 s.v. חֵן 2. The LXX, on the other hand, rendered חֶן with χάρις (caris, “gracious”). The English versions are divided: “are gracious” (KJV, YLT, ASV, NASB, NIV) and “win him favor” (NEB, RSV, NRSV, NAB, MLB, NJPS, Moffatt).
4 tn Heb “lips.”
5 tn Heb “consume him”; or “engulf him.” The verb I בלע (“to swallow”) creates a striking wordplay on the homonymic root II בלע (“to speak eloquently”; HALOT 134-35 s.v בלע). Rather than speaking eloquently (II בלע, “to speak eloquently”), the fool utters words that are self-destructive (I בלע, “to swallow, engulf”).
6 tn Heb “the words of his mouth.”
7 sn The terms “beginning” and “end” form a merism, a figure of speech in which two opposites are contrasted to indicate totality (e.g., Deut 6:7; Ps 139:8; Eccl 3:2-8). The words of a fool are madness from “start to finish.”
8 tn Heb “his mouth.”
9 tn Heb “madness of evil.”
10 tn Perhaps the referent is people who are in authority because of their wealth.
11 tn Heb “in chambers of your bedroom.”
12 tn Heb “a bird of the air.”
13 tn Heb “might carry the voice.” The article is used here with the force of a possessive pronoun.
14 tn The Hebrew phrase בַּעַל הַכְּנָפַיִם (ba’al hakkÿnafayim, “possessor of wings”) is an idiom for a winged creature, that is, a bird (e.g., Prov 1:17; see HALOT 143 s.v. בַּעַל A.6; BDB 127 s.v. בַּעַל 5.a). The term בַּעַל (“master; possessor”) is the construct governing the attributive genitive הַכְּנָפַיִם (“wings”); see IBHS 149-51 §9.5.3b.
15 tn The term “your” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for smoothness.
16 tn Heb “tell the matter.”
