Discovery Box

Ecclesiastes 2:12

Wisdom is Better than Folly

2:12 Next, I decided to consider¹ wisdom, as well as foolish behavior and ideas.²

For what more can the king’s successor do than what the king³ has already done?

¹tn Heb “and I turned to see.”

²sn See 1:17 for the same expression. Throughout 2:1-11, Qoheleth evaluated the merits of merrymaking (2:1-3), accomplishing grand things (2:4-6), amassing great wealth (2:7-8), and secular acquisitions and accomplishments (2:9-10). Now, he reflects on the benefit in life in living wisely and not giving oneself over to frivolous self-indulgence.

³tc The Hebrew text reads עָשׂוּהוּ (’asuhu, “they have done it”; Qal perfect 3rd person masculine plural from עָשַׂה [’asah] + 3rd person masculine singular suffix). However, many medieval Hebrew mss read עָשָׂהוּ (’asahu, “he has done”; Qal perfect 3rd person masculine singular from עָשַׂה), reflected in the LXX and Syriac. The error was caused by dittography (ו, vav, written twice) or by orthographic confusion between ו and ה (hey) in הוו (confused as והוו) at the end of 2:12 and beginning of 2:13. The 3rd person masculine singular referent of עָשׂוּהוּ “what he has done” is the king, that is, Qoheleth himself. The referent (the king) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

Search Type	Description	Example
all	search for verses that contains all of the search words.	"fish bread" will search for verses that contains fish AND bread in minimum 1 bible version
phrase	search for verses that contains all of the search phrase.	"fish bread" will search for verses that contains "fish bread" in minimum 1 bible version
at least one	search for verses that contains any of the search words.	"fish bread" will search for verses that contains fish OR bread in minumum 1 bible version
without	search for verses not contained of the search words. Without can not be used by it self, meaning that it has to be minimum one more condition included (all/at least one,etc)	all: "fish", without: "bread", will search for verses that contains "fish" but NOT "bread"
start	search for verses that contains words that start with the search words	"fis" will search for verses that contains words start with "fis", the result will be "fish", "fishing", "fisherman", etc
similar	search for verses that contains words that similar in spelling to the search words.	"fish" will search verses that contain words which has similar spelling with fish. The result: "dish",etc
displaying	set the max displaying in one page.	"20" will set displaying max to 20 per page
range	set searching range	"All Bible", "Old Testament", "New Testament"

Display Bible

Universal Search :

TIP #27: Get rid of popup ... just cross over its boundary. [ALL]

with all of the words
with the phrase
with at least one of the words
without the words
start with
similar spelling
displaying
search range
NET Only	Exact search
Show Help