Logos Bible Study

Ecclesiastes 12:10–11

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10The Teacherc sought to find delightful words,d and he wrotee what is upright—truthful words.

11The words of the wise are like cattle goads; the collections of the sages are like pricks inflicted by one shepherd.f

Read in Logos
Ecclesiastes 12:11: The words of the wise are like goads, and like nails firmly fixed are the collected sayings; they are given by one Shepherd.

Footnotes

  1. cHebrew “Qohelet”
  2. dHebrew “words of delight”
  3. eThe MT reads the term passively, “what is written,” but an alternate textual tradition reads, “and he wrote”
  4. fOr “The owner of collections are given by one shepherd”

In other versions

ESVEnglish Standard Version

The Preacher sought to find words of delight, and uprightly he wrote words of truth.

The words of the wise are like goads, and like nails firmly fixed are the collected sayings; they are given by one Shepherd.

NIVNew International Version (2011)

The Teacher searched to find just the right words, and what he wrote was upright and true.

The words of the wise are like goads, their collected sayings like firmly embedded nails—given by one shepherd.

CSBChristian Standard Bible

The Teacher sought to find delightful sayings and write words of truth accurately. The sayings of the wise are like cattle prods, and those from masters of collections are like firmly embedded nails. The sayings are given by one Shepherd.

NLTNew Living Translation

The Teacher sought to find just the right words to express truths clearly.

The words of the wise are like cattle prods—painful but helpful. Their collected sayings are like a nail-studded stick with which a shepherd drives the sheep.

KJV 1900King James Version

The preacher sought to find out acceptable words: and that which was written was upright, even words of truth. The words of the wise are as goads, and as nails fastened by the masters of assemblies, which are given from one shepherd.