Writing the Truth Plainly

Ecclesiastes 12:9–14

4th or 3rd Century BCE

9Besides being wise, the Teacher also taught the people knowledge, weighing and studying and arranging many proverbs. 10The Teacher sought to find pleasing words, and he wrote words of truth plainly.

11The sayings of the wise are like goads, and like nails firmly fixed are the collected sayings that are given by one shepherd. 12Of anything beyond these, my child, beware. Of making many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh.

13The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God, and keep his commandments; for that is the whole duty of everyone. 14For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil.

Translation from the New Revised Standard Version.

Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 2: Emerging Judaism.

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Concluding the book of Ecclesiastes is a short statement emphasizing the importance of being a good teacher, speaking directly, and maintaining appropriate reverence before God. Although the call to fear God appears elsewhere in the book, the instruction to observe his commandments does not, which contributes to the scholarly consensus that the last lines of Ecclesiastes are a pious addendum to the otherwise irreverent book.

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