Ecclesiastes 5 — Hebrew and Greek compared
Disparate in this chapter: 5:5, 5:9
Each card keeps the independently rendered source readings above their shared comparison and reception notes. The badge records the source’s governing classification; disparate readings are marked in red. Each reading retains its original reference.
Chapter 5
Hebrew source [BHS5] • Greek source [LXX5]
Speech before God and the limits of wealth (5:1–19)
Verse 5:1 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[5:1] Do not be hasty with your mouth, and do not let your heart hurry to bring out a word before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore let your words be few.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[5:1] Do not be hasty with your mouth, and do not let your heart hurry to bring out a word before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore let your words be few.
Classification & Notes
Same. Text: Source 5:1 is common English 5:2; this one-verse offset continues through source 5:19, common 5:20.
Verse 5:2 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[5:2] For a dream comes with much occupation, and a fool's voice with many words.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[5:2] For a dream comes with much distraction, and a fool's voice with many words.
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: The recurring occupation–distraction vocabulary remains; the comparison with excessive speech agrees.
Verse 5:3 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[5:3] When you vow a vow to God, do not delay paying it, for there is no pleasure in fools. Pay what you vow.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[5:3] Whenever you vow a vow to God, do not delay paying it, for there is no delight in fools. Pay whatever you vow.
Classification & Notes
Same. Text: The warning against unfulfilled vows agrees; no requirement to make a vow is added.
Verse 5:4 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[5:4] Better that you do not vow than that you vow and do not pay.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[5:4] Better that you do not vow than that you vow and do not pay.
Classification & Notes
Same. Text: Both prefer refraining from a vow to failing to fulfill it.
Verse 5:5 Disparate
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[5:5] Do not let your mouth cause your flesh to sin, and do not say before the messenger, It was a mistake. Why should God be angry at your voice and ruin the work of your hands?
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[5:5] Do not let your mouth cause your flesh to sin, and do not say before God, It was ignorance, lest God become angry at your voice and destroy the works of your hands.
Classification & Notes
Disparate. Text: Hebrew messenger becomes Greek God. The messenger's identity, human or angelic, is not supplied. Hebrew asks why; Greek gives a preventative purpose clause.
Verse 5:6 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[5:6] For with many dreams come vapors and many words; rather, fear God.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[5:6] For with many dreams come futilities and many words; therefore fear God.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Both have a compressed opening without an expressed verb; come is supplied. The vapor–futility distinction and the fear of God remain.
Verse 5:7 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[5:7] If you see oppression of the poor and robbery of justice and righteousness in a province, do not be astonished at the matter, for one high official watches over another, and higher ones are above them.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[5:7] If you see extortion of the poor and robbery of judgment and righteousness in a region, do not be astonished at the matter, for a high official is above another to keep watch, and higher ones are above them.
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: Official supplies the implied role of high persons. The text does not specify whether the hierarchy protects justice, participates in oppression, or both.
Verse 5:8 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[5:8] The land's surplus is for everyone; a king is served by the field.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[5:8] The land's surplus is in everything—a king of a cultivated field.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Both clauses are difficult. Hebrew is provisionally read as royal dependence on cultivation; Greek leaves the king phrase without an explicit verb. A king devoted to cultivation is another interpretation of the Hebrew. No claim of a settled political maxim is made.
Verse 5:9 Disparate
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[5:9] Whoever loves silver will not be satisfied with silver, nor whoever loves abundance with income. This too is vapor.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[5:9] Whoever loves silver will not be filled with silver; and who has loved a yield in their abundance? This too is futility.
Classification & Notes
Disparate. Text: Greek's second clause is a question and lacks Hebrew's explicit not. Its their has an uncertain antecedent; the awkward construction is retained rather than conformed to Hebrew. Silver can function as money, but the material term is preserved.
Verse 5:10 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[5:10] When goods increase, those who consume them increase. What advantage has their owner except to look at them with his eyes?
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[5:10] When goodness increases, those who consume it increase. What strength has its possessor except to look at it with his eyes?
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: Greek agathosyne and andreia are rendered goodness and strength; Hebrew more directly names goods and advantage. The proliferating consumers agree.
Verse 5:11 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[5:11] Sweet is the worker's sleep, whether he eats little or much; but the rich person's fullness does not let him sleep.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[5:11] Sweet is the slave's sleep, whether he eats little or much; but being filled with riches does not let him sleep.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew names a worker; Greek explicitly doulos, slave. The latter half of Greek emphasizes fullness from becoming rich rather than simply a rich person's satiety.
Verse 5:12 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[5:12] There is a grievous evil I have seen beneath the sun: wealth kept by its owner to his harm.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[5:12] There is a sickness I have seen beneath the sun: wealth kept by its possessor to his harm,
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew grievous evil becomes Greek sickness; the harmful retention of wealth agrees.
Verse 5:13 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[5:13] That wealth is lost through a bad undertaking, and he fathers a son with nothing in his hand.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[5:13] and that wealth will be lost through a grievous distraction, and he fathered a son with nothing in his hand.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Greek repeats its distraction noun where Hebrew can denote an undertaking or affair. The pronoun his may refer to the father or son; neither column resolves it by adding a name.
Verse 5:14 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[5:14] As he came from his mother's womb, naked he will return, departing as he came. He will carry away nothing from his toil that he can take in his hand.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[5:14] As he came naked from his mother's womb, he will return to depart as he came. He will take nothing from his toil to carry in his hand.
Classification & Notes
Same. Text: Both emphasize departure without possessions.
Verse 5:15 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[5:15] This too is a grievous evil: exactly as he came, so he will go. What surplus has he from toiling for the wind?
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[5:15] This too is a grievous sickness: just as he came, so he will depart. What surplus has he from toiling for the wind?
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: Greek explicitly uses anemos, wind, here; it is distinguished from the repeated proairesis pneumatos phrase. Evil and sickness remain distinct.
Verse 5:16 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[5:16] All his days he eats in darkness, with much vexation, sickness and anger.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[5:16] All his days are in darkness and mourning, with much anger, sickness and wrath.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Greek has mourning and no eating verb, unlike the Hebrew. The emotional and physical burdens remain.
Verse 5:17 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[5:17] Look, what I have seen to be good and fitting is to eat and drink and see good in all one's toil beneath the sun during the numbered days of life God has given, for that is one's portion.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[5:17] Look, what I have seen to be good and fitting is to eat and drink and see goodness in all one's toil beneath the sun during the numbered days of life God has given, for that is one's portion.
Classification & Notes
Same. Text: The affirming enjoyment statement remains alongside the preceding critique of wealth.
Verse 5:18 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[5:18] Moreover, every person to whom God has given wealth and possessions, and whom He has empowered to eat from them, take his portion and rejoice in his toil—this is God's gift.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[5:18] Moreover, every person to whom God has given wealth and possessions, and whom He has empowered to eat from them, take his portion and rejoice in his toil—this is God's gift.
Classification & Notes
Same. Text: The ability to enjoy, as well as the possessions themselves, is attributed to God.
Verse 5:19 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[5:19] For he will not often remember the days of his life, because God keeps him occupied with the joy of his heart.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[5:19] For he will not often remember the days of his life, because God distracts him with the gladness of his heart.
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: Hebrew ma‘aneh is provisionally keeps occupied; answers is another possible interpretation. Greek explicitly uses the distracting verb, here with a positive object.