Besides, to all those arguments by which men direct themselves, do not give much heed, just as thou hadst better not listen to thy servant when he curses thee;
(21.) Moreover (an additional reason), to all the words (הדברים, in the usual sense, and very emphatic as followed by the corresponding verb) which they speak (reason about) do not give thine heart (because they are not worth thinking about: the reason follows), which (repeated, equivalent to ‘they are such that’) not dost thou hear (‘as thou wouldest not listen to if’) with respect to thy servant he was cursing thee.
22 For oftentimes also thine own heart knoweth that thou thyself likewise hast cursed others.
because thou knowest that besides, times out of mind thyself also hast cursed——some one else.
(22.) For moreover, times many knows (but the LXX. read ירע, κακώσει, ‘afflicts,’ that is, the servant does so. Symmachus also reads ὅτι πρὸς πλεόνακις καιροῦ πονηρεύσεται καρδία σου, supporting the LXX.; the Syriac, on the other hand, reads as the Hebrew. If, therefore, ירע was the real reading, the change took place in ancient times) thy heart (which is nominative to ידע) which (the third repetition of the relative; it ought therefore to be taken in the meaning of ‘and this,’) also thou (which is emphatic if we follow the Masorets, who point אַתָּ in which apparently they are supported by both the LXX. and Symmachus) hast cursed others.
Were it not for this suspicious אַתָּ there would be no reason at all to disturb the present Hebrew text. Nor, probably, is the evidence strong against it, unless indeed it should turn out, on further investigation and discovery, that when the version of the LXX. was made, there was a greater difference between the letters ͏͏ר and ד than there is now. If the reading of the LXX. were right, the following was the meaning of the passage:——‘Moreover, to all the words which they speak [they being supposed to refer to the wicked, hence the explanatory gloss of B, ἀσεβεῖς], do not give thine heart,’——which [amounts to this]——‘thou wouldest not hear (or listen to) with respect to thy servant cursing thee, because many times he vexes thy heart, which [amounts to this also] in regard that thou hast cursed others.’ The innuendo being that our reasonings with regard to God’s dealings with ourselves are like the rash improper speeches of a grumbling servant. It must be confessed that the expression, אשר גם את קללת, literally, ‘which also with respect to thou hast cursed,’ is unprecedentedly harsh and elliptical, even for Koheleth. But to alter the text——and the Masoretic punctuation is here a virtual alteration of the text——is to interpret an imaginary document, and not the one which exists before our eyes. The Masorets, however, with their customary caution——and in this respect they are a brilliant example to some modern critics——would not add a single letter, on mere conjecture only, however plausible.