(10.) Do not say (אל, the particle of prohibition being repeated, this second is equivalent to ‘neither say’) what was (how was it) that the days (with the article, and therefore generic), the former ones (again generic, in strict apposition) were good ones beyond these (the whole construction of the sentence shows that the Laudator temporis acti is here specially reprehended), because not from wisdom (i.e. the wisdom of such an inquiry is here negatived) thou askest (שאל is to ask in the sense of wishing to have——Exodus iii. 22) upon (or about) this.
11 ¶ Wisdom [¹]is good with an inheritance: and by it there is profit to them that see the sun.
[¹] Or, as good as an inheritance, yea, better too.
As good is wisdom as an inheritance, and something more, to those who see the sunshine;
(11.) A good is wisdom (the two nouns both abstracts or in strict agreement) together with an inheritance, and a profitable thing (וְיֹתֵר, which the Masorets point as a participle, not יתרון, which would give a different idea, i.e. a ‘profit generally,’ which, in the sense of this book, wisdom is not always, for it fails, through unforeseen accidents, of always attaining its end, and sometimes perishes like folly; but with an inheritance, wisdom to know how to use it is always a real advantage in some way even in this life, and hence the qualification) to those that see the sun (generic, as a sun which is light and warmth indeed, but also glare and heat).
12 For wisdom is a [¹]defence, and money is a defence: but the excellency of knowledge is, that wisdom giveth life to them that have it.