Ecc 7:7 | KD | STEP | Without further trying to explain the mystery of the כי, we translate this verse: “... For oppression maketh wise men mad, and corruption destroyeth the understanding.” From the lost first half of the verse, it appears that the subject here treated of is the duties of a judge, including those of a ruler into whose hands his subjects, with their property and life, are given. The second half is like an echo of ; Deu 16:19. That which שׁחד there means is here, as at , denoted by מתּנה; and עשׁק is accordingly oppression as it is exercised by one who constrains others who need legal aid and help generally to purchase it by means of presents. Such oppression for the sake of gain, even if it does not proceed to the perversion of justice, but only aims at courting and paying for favour, makes a wise man mad (הולל, as at ; ), i.e. , it hurries him forth, since the greed of gold increases more and more, to the most blinding immorality and regardlessness; and such presents for the purpose of swaying the judgment, and of bribery, destroys the heart, i.e. , the understanding (cf. Hos 4:11, Bereschith rabba , chap. lvi.), for they obscure the judgment, blunt the conscience, and make a man the slave of his passion. The conjecture העשׁר (riches) instead of the word העשׁק (Burger, as earlier Ewald) is accordingly unnecessary; it has the parallelism against it, and thus generally used gives an untrue thought. The word הולל does not mean “gives lustre” (Desvoeux), or “makes shine forth = makes manifest” (Tyler); thus also nothing is gained for a better connection of and Ecc 7:6. The Venet. excellently: ἐκστήσει. Aben Ezra supposes that מתנה is here = דּבר מת; Mendelssohn repeats it, although otherwise the consciousness of the syntactical rule, Gesen. §147 a , does not fail him.

‏ Ecclesiastes 7:7

Without further trying to explain the mystery of the כי, we translate this verse: “... For oppression maketh wise men mad, and corruption destroyeth the understanding.” From the lost first half of the verse, it appears that the subject here treated of is the duties of a judge, including those of a ruler into whose hands his subjects, with their property and life, are given. The second half is like an echo of Exo 23:8; Deu 16:19. That which שׁחד there means is here, as at Pro 15:27, denoted by מתּנה; and עשׁק is accordingly oppression as it is exercised by one who constrains others who need legal aid and help generally to purchase it by means of presents. Such oppression for the sake of gain, even if it does not proceed to the perversion of justice, but only aims at courting and paying for favour, makes a wise man mad (הולל, as at Job 12:17; Isa 44:25), i.e., it hurries him forth, since the greed of gold increases more and more, to the most blinding immorality and regardlessness; and such presents for the purpose of swaying the judgment, and of bribery, destroys the heart, i.e., the understanding (cf. Hos 4:11, Bereschith rabba, chap. lvi.), for they obscure the judgment, blunt the conscience, and make a man the slave of his passion. The conjecture העשׁר (riches) instead of the word העשׁק (Burger, as earlier Ewald) is accordingly unnecessary; it has the parallelism against it, and thus generally used gives an untrue thought. The word הולל does not mean “gives lustre” (Desvoeux), or “makes shine forth = makes manifest” (Tyler); thus also nothing is gained for a better connection of Ecc 7:7 and Ecc 7:6. The Venet. excellently: ἐκστήσει. Aben Ezra supposes that מתנה is here = דּבר מת; Mendelssohn repeats it, although otherwise the consciousness of the syntactical rule, Gesen. §147 a, does not fail him.