It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise than for a man to hear the song of fools.
Parallel Translations
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It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise than for a man to hear the song of fools.
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It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise, than for a man to hear the song of fools.
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It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise, than for a man to hear the song of fools.
Cross-references (9)
Passages linked to Ecclesiastes 7:5 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Proverbs 15:31-32 The ear that listens to reproof lives, and will be at home among the wise. He who refuses correction despises his own soul, but he who listens to reproof gets understanding.
- Psalms 141:5 Let the righteous strike me, it is kindness; let him reprove me, it is like oil on the head; don’t let my head refuse it; Yet my prayer is always against evil deeds.
- Revelation 3:19 As many as I love, I reprove and chasten. Be zealous therefore, and repent.
- Proverbs 9:8 Don’t reprove a scoffer, lest he hate you. Reprove a wise person, and he will love you.
- Proverbs 13:18 Poverty and shame come to him who refuses discipline, but he who heeds correction shall be honored.
- Proverbs 17:10 A rebuke enters deeper into one who has understanding than a hundred lashes into a fool.
- Psalms 69:12 Those who sit in the gate talk about me. I am the song of the drunkards.
- Proverbs 13:13 Whoever despises instruction will pay for it, but he who respects a command will be rewarded.
- Proverbs 27:6 The wounds of a friend are faithful, although the kisses of an enemy are profuse.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (11 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Ecc 7:5 [It is] better to hear the rebuke…
Ecc 7:5 [It is] better to hear the rebuke of the wise, than for a man to hear the song of fools.
Ver. 5. It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise.] Sharp truth takes better with an honest heart than a smooth supparasitation. Seneca compares flattery to a song or symphony; but it is a syren’s song, and our ears must be stopped to it; for like the poison of asps, it casts one into a sleep, but that sleep is deadly. Those that had the sudor Anglicus, or sweating sickness, died assuredly, if allowed to sleep; those, then, were their best friends that kept them waking, though haply they had no thank for it; so are wise and merciful reprovers. "Faithful are these wounds of a friend." {Pro 27:6} {See Trapp on "Pro 27:6"} David was full glad of them; {Psa 141:5} so was Gerson, who never took anything more kindly, saith he that writes his life, than to be plainly dealt with. The bee can suck sweet honey out of bitter thyme, yea, out of poisonous hemlock. So can a wise man make benefit of his friends, nay, of his enemies. It is good to have friends (as the orator said of judges), mode audeant quae sentiunt, so they dare deal freely. This an enemy will do for spite; and malice though it be an ill judge, yet is a good informer. Augustine, in an epistle to Jerome, approves well of him that said, There is more good to be gotten by enemies railing than friends flattering. These sing Satan’s lullaby, such as casts into a dead lethargy, and should therefore be served as Alexander the Great served a certain philosopher whom he chased out of his presence, and gave this reason, Because he had lived long with him, and never reproved any vice in him; or as the same Alexander dealt by Aristobulus, the false historian, who had written a book of his noble acts, and had magnified them beyond truth, hoping thereby to ingratiate and curry favour: Alexander having read the book, cast it into the River Hydaspes, and told the author it were a good deed to throw him after, Qui solus me sic pugnantem facis. {a}
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{a} Quint. Curt.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain The rebuke of the wise, though it causeth some…
The rebuke of the wise, though it causeth some grief, yet frequently brings great benefit, even reformation and salvation, both from temporal and from eternal destruction, both which are the portion of impenitent sinners.
The song; the flatteries, or other merry discourses, which are as pleasant to corrupt nature, as songs or music.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain It is better to hear the rebuke of the…
It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise,.... To listen to it diligently, receive it cordially, and act according to it; though it may be disagreeable to the flesh, and give present pain, yet the effect and issue will be good, and show that man to be wise that hears it, as well as he that gives it; see Psa 141:1;
than for a man to hear the song of fools; the vain and impure songs that foolish men sing in the house of mirth; or the flatteries of foolish men, which tickle and please the mind, as music and songs do: or, "than a man that hears the song of fools" (i), and is pleased with it.
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(i) "quam vir audiens canticum stultorum", Montanus, Mercerus; "prae viro audiente canticum stultorum", Rambachius.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Ecc 7:5-6. It is better to hear the rebuke…
Ecc 7:5-6. It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise — Which, though it cause some grief, yet frequently brings great benefit, even reformation, and salvation both from temporal and from eternal destruction; than the song of fools — Their flatteries, or merry discourses, which are as pleasant to corrupt nature as songs or music. For as the crackling of thorns — Which, for a time, make a great noise and blaze, but presently go out; so is the laughter of a fool — So vanishing and fruitless.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Mourning. They submit willingly to correction, (St. Jerome) or…
Mourning. They submit willingly to correction, (St. Jerome) or think seriously on the dangers of sin and God’s judgments.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain (Psa 141:4-5). Godly reproof offends the flesh, but benefits…
(Psa 141:4-5). Godly reproof offends the flesh, but benefits the spirit. Fools' songs in the house of mirth please the flesh, but injure the soul.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 5. Better… for a man — The transition is…
5. Better… for a man — The transition is easy from the monitions of death to the counsels of the living. As the term man belongs to both clauses, it might more properly stand in the former. It is better for a man, etc. “Let the righteous smite me,” says the psalmist, “it shall be a kindness” — better than a fool’s music.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 5. It is better to hear the rebuke of…
5. It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise] The word for “rebuke” is characteristic of the sapiential books of the Old Testament (Pro_13:1; Pro_17:10). Here also the teacher finds the moral that “pain is gain.” The “rebuke” is not pleasant, but it acts with a power to heal. The “song of fools” points to the type of lyric poetry of which we have examples in Anacreon, perhaps to the more wanton and impure poems which entered so largely into Greek life, and are preserved in such abundance in the Anthologia Græca. The comic drinking songs of a people represent at all times the lowest form of its animal life, and with these also, either in his own country or in Greek-speaking lands, the writer of the book had become acquainted. Amo_6:5 indicates the existence of a like form of revelry in the older life of Israel. Such songs left a taint behind them and the man was permanently the worse for it. In Eph_5:4 we may probably trace a reference to the same form of literature.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain It is better to hear the rebuke of the…
It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise. Gearah, "rebuke," is the word used in Proverbs for the grave admonition which heals and strengthens while it wounds. (see Pro_13:1 Pro_17:10) The silent lessons which a man learns from the contemplation of others" sorrow are rightly supplemented by the salutary correction of the wise man"s tongue. Than for a man to hear the song of fools. Shir, song," is a general term used of sacred or profane song; the connection here with the second clause of ver. 4, etc., leads one to think of the hoister-cue, reckless, often immodest, singing heard in the house of revelry, such as Amos (Amo_6:5) calls "idle songs to the sound of the viol" Koheleth might have heard these in his own country, without drawing his experience from the license of Greek practice or the impurity of Greek lyrics. The Vulgate renders the clause, Quum stultorum adulatione decipi, Than to be deceived by the flattery of tools." This is a paraphrase; the correctness is negatived by the explanation given in the following verse.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 to the rebuke of the wise
to the rebuke of the wise
The word "rebuke" can be expressed as a verb. AT: "when wise people rebuke you" (See: Abstract Nouns)
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to listen to the song of fools
"to listen to fools sing"
For like the crackling of thorns burning under a pot, so also is the laughter of fools
This speaks of how listening to fools talk and laugh will teach you nothing, as if their speech and laughter were the sound of burning thorns. AT: "For listening to the laughter of fools will not teach a man any more than if he were listening to the crackling of thorns burning under a pot" (See: Simile)
vapor
The author speaks of useless and meaningless things as if they were mist. See how you translated this in Ecclesiastes 1:14. AT: "as useless as vapor" or "meaningless" (See: Metaphor)
translationWords
rebuke
thorn
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 7:5-6 Being praised by a fool and enjoying a…
7:5-6 Being praised by a fool and enjoying a fool’s laughter are short-lived and worthless. Being criticized by a wise person can lead to real gain (Prov 17:10).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.