Ecclesiastes 7:6

For like the crackling of quick-burning thorns ¹  under a cooking pot, so is the laughter of the fool. This kind of folly ²  also is useless. ³ 

Ps 58:9; Ps 118:12; Pr 29:9; Ec 2:2; Isa 65:13-15; Am 8:10; Lu 6:25; Lu 16:25; 2Pe 2:13-17; Jude 1:12,13

¹ tn The term “thorns” (הַסִּירִים, hassirim) refers to twigs from wild thorn bushes which were used as fuel for quick heat, but burn out quickly before a cooking pot can be properly heated (e.g., Pss 58:9; 118:12).

² tn The word “kind of folly” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity.

³ tn It is difficult to determine whether the Hebrew term הֶבֶל (hevel) means “fleeting” or “useless” in this context. The imagery of quick-burning thorns under a cooking pot is ambiguous and can be understood in more than one way: (1) It is useless to try to heat a cooking pot by burning thorns because they burn out before the pot can be properly heated; (2) the heat produced by quick-burning thorns is fleeting – it produces quick heat, but lasts only for a moment. Likewise, the “laughter of a fool” can be taken in both ways: (1) In comparison to the sober reflection of the wise, the laughter of fools is morally useless: the burning of thorns, like the laughter of fools, makes a lot of noise but accomplishes nothing; (2) the laughter of fools is fleeting due to the brevity of life and certainty of death. Perhaps this is an example of intentional ambiguity.