Ecclesiastes 1:15-17
Lexham English Bible
16 I said to myself,[c] “Look! I have become great and have increased in wisdom more than anyone who has preceded[d] me over Jerusalem. I have acquired a great deal of wisdom and knowledge.”[e] 17 So I dedicated myself[f] to learn about wisdom and to learn about delusion and folly. However, I discovered[g] that this also is chasing wind.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Ecclesiastes 1:15 The MT reads the active “to be straight”; however, the BHS editors suggest the passive “to be straightened,” which is supported by LXX, which reflects a passive form
- Ecclesiastes 1:15 The MT reads “to be numbered”; however, the BHS editors suggest “to be supplied,” comparing 1:15b with similar wording in the Babylonian Talmud: “May the Almighty replenish your loss” (b. Berachot 16b)
- Ecclesiastes 1:16 Literally “I myself said to my heart”
- Ecclesiastes 1:16 Literally “before me”
- Ecclesiastes 1:16 Literally “And my mind has seen much wisdom and knowledge”
- Ecclesiastes 1:17 Literally “So I gave my heart”
- Ecclesiastes 1:17 Or “I knew”
Ecclesiastes 1:15-17
New International Version
15 What is crooked cannot be straightened;(A)
what is lacking cannot be counted.
16 I said to myself, “Look, I have increased in wisdom more than anyone who has ruled over Jerusalem before me;(B) I have experienced much of wisdom and knowledge.” 17 Then I applied myself to the understanding of wisdom,(C) and also of madness and folly,(D) but I learned that this, too, is a chasing after the wind.
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