Verse 17
To know madness and folly - ושכלות הוללות holloth vesichluth . Παραβολας και επιστημην , "Parables and science." - Septuagint. So the Syriac; nearly so the Arabic.
"What were error and foolishness." - Coverdale. Perhaps gayety and sobriety may be the better meaning for these two difficult words. I can scarcely think they are taken in that bad sense in which our translation exhibits them. "I tried pleasure in all its forms; and sobriety and self-abnegation to their utmost extent." Choheleth paraphrases, "Even fools and madmen taught me rules."
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