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JPS Old Testament
Ecclesiastes 12:10
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The Teacher sought to find delightful sayings and write words of truth accurately.
The Preacher sought to find out acceptable words, and that which was written blamelessly, words of truth.
The preacher sought to find out acceptable words: and that which was written was upright, even words of truth.
The Preacher sought to find words of delight, and uprightly he wrote words of truth.
The Preacher sought to find delightful words and to write words of truth correctly.
The Teacher looked for just the right words to write what is dependable and true.
The Preacher sought to find delightful words, even to write correctly words of truth.
The Preacher sought to find out acceptable words, and that which was written blamelessly, words of truth.
The Preacher sought to finde out pleasant wordes, and an vpright writing, euen the wordes of trueth.
The Preacher sought to find delightful words and words of truth written uprightly.
The Teacher searched to find delightful sayings and to record accurate words of truth.
Then I tried to explain these things in the best and most accurate way.
Kohelet worked to develop an attractive writing style, in which he expressed the truth straightforwardly.
The Preacher sought to find out acceptable words; and that which was written is upright, words of truth.
The Teacher tried very hard to find the right words, and he wrote the teachings that are true and dependable.
The Preacher sought to find agreeable words; and he wrote uprightly the words of truth.
The Philosopher tried to find comforting words, but the words he wrote were honest.
The Teacher sought to find delightful words, and he wrote what is upright—truthful words.
The Preacher sought to find out pleasing words, and words of truth written on uprightness.
His diligence was to fynde out acceptable wordes, right scripture, and the wordes of trueth.
The Preacher sought to find out acceptable words, and that which was written uprightly, even words of truth.
The Preacher made search for words which were pleasing, but his writing was in words upright and true.
The preacher sought to finde out acceptable words, and that which was written was vpright, euen wordes of trueth.
His diligence was to finde out acceptable wordes, right scripture, & the wordes of trueth.
The Preacher sought diligently to find out acceptable words, and a correct writing, even words of truth.
The Preacher sought to find out acceptable words, and that which was written uprightly, even words of truth.
and he souyte out wisdom, and made many parablis; he souyte profitable wordis, and he wroot moost riytful wordis, and ful of treuthe.
The Preacher sought to find out acceptable words, and that which was written uprightly, [even] words of truth.
The preacher sought to find out acceptable words: and [that which was] written [was] upright, [even] words of truth.
The Teacher sought to find delightful words, and to write accurately truthful sayings.
The Preacher sought to find acceptable words; and what was written was upright--words of truth.
The Teacher sought to find just the right words to express truths clearly.
The Preacher looked to find pleasing words and to write words of truth in the right way.
The Teacher sought to find pleasing words, and he wrote words of truth plainly.
The Proclaimer sought to find out words giving delight, and to note down rightly, the words of truth.
He sought profitable words, and wrote words most right, and full of truth.
The Preacher sought to find pleasing words, and uprightly he wrote words of truth.
The preacher sought to find out pleasing words, and, written [by] the upright, words of truth.
The Preacher sought to find delightful words and to write words of truth correctly.
Contextual Overview
Bible Verse Review
from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge
Preacher: Ecclesiastes 1:1, Ecclesiastes 1:12
acceptable words: Heb. words of delight, Proverbs 15:23, Proverbs 15:26, Proverbs 16:21-24, Proverbs 25:11, Proverbs 25:12, 1 Timothy 1:15
written: Proverbs 1:1-6, Proverbs 8:6-10, Proverbs 22:17-21, Luke 1:1-4, John 3:11, Colossians 1:5
Reciprocal: 1 Samuel 12:23 - I will teach 1 Kings 17:24 - the word 2 Chronicles 17:7 - he sent 2 Chronicles 34:30 - he read Job 6:25 - forcible Job 32:11 - whilst Proverbs 10:21 - feed Proverbs 10:32 - know Proverbs 15:7 - lips Ecclesiastes 9:1 - considered in my heart Luke 4:22 - the gracious
Cross-References
Now the LORD said unto Abram: 'Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto the land that I will show thee.
And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and be thou a blessing.
And I will bless them that bless thee, and him that curseth thee will I curse; and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed.'
So Abram went, as the LORD had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him; and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran.
And he removed from thence unto the mountain on the east of Beth-el, and pitched his tent, having Beth-el on the west, and Ai on the east; and he builded there an altar unto the LORD, and called upon the name of the LORD.
And Pharaoh called Abram, and said: 'What is this that thou hast done unto me? why didst thou not tell me that she was thy wife?
And the sons of Israel came to buy among those that came; for the famine was in the land of Caanan.
And the famine was sore in the land.
And there was no bread in all the land; for the famine was very sore, so that the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan languished by reason of the famine.
And it came to pass in the days when the judges judged, that there was a famine in the land. And a certain man of Beth-lehem in Judah went to sojourn in the field of Moab, he, and his wife, and his two sons.
Gill's Notes on the Bible
The preacher sought to find out acceptable words,.... Not mere words, fine and florid ones, the words which man's wisdom teacheth, an elegant style, or eloquent language; not but that it is proper for a preacher to seek out and use words suitable and apt to convey right ideas to the minds of men of what he says; but doctrines are rather here meant, "words of desire", "delight", and "pleasure" d, as the phrase may be rendered; even of God's good will and pleasure, so Alshech; for the same word is sometimes used of God in this book and elsewhere: see Ecclesiastes 3:1; and so may take in the doctrine of God's everlasting love to his people, and his delight and pleasure in them; of his good will towards them in sending Christ to suffer and die for them, and save them; in pardoning their sins through his blood, in which he delights; in regenerating and calling them by his grace, and revealing the things of the Gospel to them, when he hides them from others, which is all of his own will and pleasure, and as it seems good in his sight: or words and doctrines, which are desirable, pleasing, and acceptable unto men; not that Solomon did, or preachers should, seek to please men, or seek to say things merely for the sake of pleasing men, for then they would not be the servants of Christ; nor are the doctrines of the Gospel pleasing to carnal men, but the reverse: they gnash their teeth at them, as Christ's hearers did at him; the preaching of a crucified Christ is foolishness, and the things of the Spirit of God are insipid things, to natural men; they are enemies to the Gospel: but to sensible sinners they are very delightful, such as peace, pardon, righteousness, and salvation, by Christ, 1 Timothy 1:15; for the worth of them, they are more desirable to them than gold and silver, and are more delightful to the ear than the best of music, and more acceptable to the taste than honey or the honeycomb, Psalms 19:10;
and [that which was] written [was] upright; meaning what was written in this book, or in any other parts of Scripture, which the preacher sought out and inculcated; it was according to the mind and will of God, and to the rest of the sacred word; it was sincere, unmixed, and unadulterated with the doctrines and inventions of men; it showed that man had lost his uprightness, had none of himself, and where it was to be had, even in Christ; and was a means of making men sound, sincere, and upright at heart; and of directing them to walk uprightly, and to live soberly, righteously, and godly, in the world;
[even] words of truth; which come from the God of truth, that cannot lie, as all Scripture does; of which Christ, who is the truth, is the sum and substance; and which are inspired by the Spirit of truth, and led into by him, and made effectual to saving purposes; and which holds good of the whole Scripture, called the Scripture of truth, Daniel 10:1; and of the Gospel, which is the word of truth, and of every doctrine of it, John 17:17.
d דברי חפץ "verba complacentiae vel beneplaciti", Vatablus; "verba desiderii", Amama, Rambachius; "verba delectabilia", Junius Tremellius, Piscator, Drusius, Mercerus, Gejerus so Broughton; "verba voluptatis", Cocceius.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible
This passage is properly regarded as the Epilogue of the whole book; a kind of apology for the obscurity of many of its sayings. The passage serves therefore to make the book more intelligible and more acceptable.
Here, as in the beginning of the book Ecclesiastes 1:1-2, the Preacher speaks of himself Ecclesiastes 12:8-10 in the third person. He first repeats Ecclesiastes 12:8 the mournful, perplexing theme with which his musings began Ecclesiastes 1:2; and then states the encouraging practical conclusion Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 to which they have led him. It has been pointed out that the Epilogue assumes the identity of the Preacher with the writer of the Book of Proverbs.
Ecclesiastes 12:11
literally, Words of wise men are as goads, and as nails driven in (by) masters of assemblies; they are given from one shepherd: “goads,” because they rouse the hearer and impel him to right actions; “nails” (perhaps tent-spikes), because they remain fixed in the memory: “masters of assemblies” are simply “teachers” or “preachers” (see Ecclesiastes 1:1 note), instructors of such assemblies as Wisdom addresses Proverbs 1:20.
One shepherd - i. e., God, who is the supreme Giver of wisdom Proverbs 2:6, and the chief Shepherd Jeremiah 23:1-4. Compare 1 Corinthians 2:12-13.
Ecclesiastes 12:12
By these - i. e., “By the words of wise men.”
Books - Rather, “Writings.” Probably the proverbs current in the Preacher’s age, including, though not especially indicating, his own.
The Preacher protests against the folly of protracted, unprofitable, meditation.
Ecclesiastes 12:13
literally, “The conclusion of the discourse” (or “word,” = words, Ecclesiastes 1:1), “the whole, let us hear.”
The whole duty of man - Rather, the whole man. To revere God and to obey Him is the whole man, constitutes man’s whole being; that only is conceded to Man; all other things, as this book teaches again and again, are dependent on a Higher Incomprehensible Being.
Ecclesiastes 12:14
Judgment with - Rather, judgment (which shall be held) upon etc.: i. e., an appointed judgment which shall take place in another world, as distinct from that retribution which frequently follows man’s actions in the course of this world, and which is too imperfect (compare Ecclesiastes 2:15; Ecclesiastes 4:1; Ecclesiastes 7:15; Ecclesiastes 9:2, ...) to be described by these expressions. He that is fully convinced that there is no solid happiness to be found in this world, and that there is a world to come wherein God will adjudge people to happiness or misery respectively, as they have made their choice and acted here, must necessarily subscribe to the truth of Solomon’s conclusion, that true religion is the only way to true happiness.
Clarke's Notes on the Bible
Verse Ecclesiastes 12:10. He sought to find out acceptable words — דברי חפץ dibrey chephets, words of desire, words of will; the best, the most suitable words; those which the people could best understand. But these words were not such as might merely please the people; they were words of truth; such as came from God, and might lead them to him.
