¹ tn Or “am foolish.”

¹ tn Heb “you know my foolishness.”

³ tn Heb “from before my foolishness.”

⁴ tn Heb “one of the foolish ones.”

¹ tn Heb “and foolishness is with him.”

⁵ tn Or “foolishness” (NASB), here in a moral-ethical sense.

⁴ tn Or “speak out foolishly.” The noun may be a direct object (folly) or an adverbial accusative (foolishly).

¹ tn The preposition ב (bet) may denote (1) exchange: “in exchange for” foolish talk there is a rod; or (2) cause: “because of” foolish talk.

⁵ tn Heb “a foolish nation” (so KJV, NAB, NRSV); NIV “a nation that has no understanding”; NLT “I will provoke their fury by blessing the foolish Gentiles.”

¹ tn The rhetorical question is sarcastic. The sense is, “Who is foolish enough…?”

¹ tn Or “foolishness,” in a moral-ethical sense. See 9:17.

¹ tn Heb “a foolish son” (so KJV, NAB, NIV, CEV); NRSV “a stupid child.”

³ tn Heb “the mouth of foolishness”; cf. NRSV, NLT “the babbling of a fool.” The term פֶּה (peh, “mouth”) functions as a metonymy of cause for speech. The genitive אֶוִיל (ʾevil, “foolishness”) functions as an attributive adjective: “a foolish mouth” = foolish speech.

⁶ tn Or “the folly of madness” The genitive construct phrase וְהַסִּכְלוּת הוֹלֵלוֹת (v^ehassikh^elut holelot) may be taken as a genitive of attribution (“the stupidity of wickedness”) or a genitive of attribute (“the evil of folly”). The phrase is rendered variously: “foolishness and madness” (KJV); “foolishness of madness” (NASB); “madness of folly” (NIV); “madness and folly” (NJPS); “the foolishness which is madness” (NEB); and “foolishness [or folly] is madness” (ASV, NAB, NRSV, MLB, Moffatt).

⁴ tn The terms שִׂכְלוּת (sikhlut, “folly”) and הוֹלֵלוֹת (holelot, “foolishness”) are synonyms. The term שִׂכְלוּת (alternate spelling of סִכְלוּת, sikhlut) refers to foolish behavior (HALOT 755 s.v. סִכְלוּת), while הוֹלֵלוֹת refers to foolish ideas and mental blindness (HALOT 242 s.v. הוֹלֵלוֹת). Qoheleth uses these terms to refer to foolish ideas and self-indulgent pleasures (e.g., Eccl 2:2-3, 12-14; 7:25; 9:3; 10:1, 6, 13).

⁴ sn It is foolish to pledge security for someone’s loans (e.g., Prov 6:1-5).

⁵ sn Death shows no respect for anyone. No matter how wise or foolish an individual happens to be, all pass away.

¹ tn There are two ways to take this word: either as “fools” or as “foolish ways.” The spelling for “foolishness” in v. 13 differs from this spelling, and so some have taken that as an indicator that this should be “fools.” But this could still be an abstract plural here as in 1:22. Either the message is to forsake fools (i.e., bad company; cf. KJV, TEV) or forsake foolishness (cf. NAB, NASB, NIV, NCV, NRSV, NLT).

¹ sn They were filled with jealousy. Their foolish response to the gospel is noted again (see Acts 5:17; 7:9; 17:5).

¹ tn The construction has the ב (bet) preposition with the Hitpael infinitive construct, forming a temporal clause. This clause explains the way in which the person has acted foolishly.