Discovery BoxEcclesiastes 7:21 
Context7:21 Also, do not pay attention to everything that people 1 say;
otherwise, 2 you might even hear 3 your servant cursing you.
Ecclesiastes 9:13
ContextMost People Are Not Receptive to Wise Counsel
9:13 This is what I also observed about wisdom on earth, 4
and it is a great burden 5 to me:
1 tn Heb “they”; the referent (people) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
2 tn Heb “so that you do not hear…”; or “lest you hear….”
3 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).
4 tn Heb “under the sun.”
5 tn The term “burden” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity.
