It may also be noticed that all citations are from chapter and verse as in the Authorized Version; where these differ from the Hebrew, the latter is added in a bracket——thus chapter v. 9 (8).
ECCLESIASTES.
CHAPTER I.
THE words of the Preacher, the son of David, king of Jerusalem.
THE discourse of the Preacher, the son of David, king of Jerusalem.
I. (1.) The words of Koheleth, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. The meaning of the term Koheleth, and the question of authorship of the book, is discussed in the introduction. We have only to remark here on the use of the word דבר as it occurs in this book in the technical sense not only of a ‘word’ or ‘reason,’ but also including the matter or thing which the word represents. Usually it refers to words, reasonings, and matters connected with the mysteries of Providence——the whole treatise itself being argumentative and didactic, discussing the vanity, that is, the transitoriness, of human existence, as its topic.