Discovery BoxEcclesiastes 7:10 
Context7:10 Do not say, “Why were the old days better than these days?” 1
for it is not wise to ask that. 2
Ecclesiastes 7:21
Context7:21 Also, do not pay attention to everything that people 3 say;
otherwise, 4 you might even hear 5 your servant cursing you.
Ecclesiastes 8:4
Context8:4 Surely the king’s authority 6 is absolute; 7
no one can say 8 to him, “What are you doing?”
1 tn Heb “these.” “Days” does not appear in the Hebrew text as second time, but is supplied in the translation for smoothness.
2 tn Heb “It is not from wisdom that you ask about this.”
3 tn Heb “they”; the referent (people) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
4 tn Heb “so that you do not hear…”; or “lest you hear….”
5 tn The imperfect tense verb תִשְׁמַע (tishma’; from שָׁמַע [shama’, “to hear”]) functions in a modal sense, denoting possibility: “you might hear” (see IBHS 508 §31.4e).
6 tn Heb “word.”
7 tn Heb “supreme.”
8 tn Heb “Who can say…?”
