What Does Ecclesiastes 7:18 Mean?
It is good that you take hold of this, and also from this do not set your hand down. For the one in awe of God comes forth from them all.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
It is good that thou shouldest take hold of this; yea, also from this withdraw not thine hand: for he that feareth God shall come forth of them all.THE KEY
Awe of God carries you through the tension: one warning stays in your grasp while the other never leaves your hand.
THE MEANING
Two cautions remain in your hands at once: righteousness can turn into self-destruction, and folly can lead toward ruin. Awe of God carries you out of their whole tangle, so neither warning becomes permission to surrender to the other extreme.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the idea that one extreme is the cure for the other: the verse keeps both dangers visible and locates the way through in awe of God.
THE ROOT
תַּנַּח
tannaḥ
GROWS FROM
נוּחַ
n-w-ḥ
to settle, rest, or come to rest
“do not set your hand down” in this verse is tannaḥ. The word the KJV renders “withdraw” is a form of “let rest.” The image is of keeping the hand from settling, preserving your hold on both cautions.
ALSO GROWS
menuchah: rest, resting place
מְנוּחָה
This noun makes rest and settling audible in the command not to let the hand rest.
vayyanaḥ: and it rested or settled
וַיָּנַח
The same root describes something coming to rest; here, the hand is not to settle while the paired cautions remain in view.
יְרֵא
yere
GROWS FROM
ירא
y-r-ʾ
to fear, stand in awe
“is in awe of God” in this verse is yere. With God as its object, yare carries the sense of awe. The verse makes that awe the frame for holding two cautions without treating either one as ultimate.
ALSO GROWS
yir’ah: fear, awe
יִרְאָה
This noun names the stance expressed by “feareth God” in the verse.
nora: awe-inspiring, dreadful
נוֹרָא
This related form describes what evokes awe, giving the verse’s reverence a sense of gravity.
יֵצֵא
yetse
GROWS FROM
יצא
y-ts-ʾ
to go out, emerge
“comes forth” in this verse is yetse. The one who stands in awe does not remain trapped between the cautions but emerges from their whole tangle. The verb pictures a way out, not a compromise that makes either danger disappear.
ALSO GROWS
yetsi’ah: going out, exit
יְצִיאָה
It echoes the verse’s movement of coming forth from the whole set of dangers.
motsa: outlet, source, place of going out
מוֹצָא
This branch makes the root’s image of an exit or emergence concrete.
THE PATTERN
Wisdom keeps paired cautions in view, so it does not collapse into one-sided excess.
Do not be overly aligned, nor make yourself overly wise. Why would you lay yourself waste?Do not be overly restless, nor be dull. Why would you die before your time?Look, I send you as sheep among wolves; be therefore wise as serpents, and unmixed as doves.THE THREAD
Do not be wise in your own eyes. Be in awe of the LORD, and turn aside from harm.The same Hebrew root ירא (yare, to fear or stand in awe) appears in both verses. Proverbs links awe with humility and turning from evil; Ecclesiastes shows awe carrying you through its paired cautions.
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