This verse is repeated with minor variation in 12:8: הֲבֵל הֲבָלִים אָמַר הקּוֹהֶלֶת הַכֹּל הָבֶל/hăbēl hăbālîm ʾāmar haqqôhelet hakkōl hābel, “Absolutely absurd!” says Qohelet. “Everything is absurd!” Since 1:2 and 12:8 frame Ecclesiastes in this way, 1:1–11 and 12:8–14 are often referred to as the frame of the book, and the speaker of these sections as the “frame narrator.” How one understands the relationship between this third person frame and the first person body of Ecclesiastes will
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