(10.) =Sought Koheleth to find words of providence= (דבר and חפץ, both in their usual technical senses) =and written= (full participial form) =uprightness, words of truth.= (The passage is very obscure; the LXX. render καὶ περισσὸν ὅτι ἐγένετο ὁ ἐκκλησιαστὴς σοφὸς [καὶ] ὅτι ἐδίδαξεν γνῶσιν σὺν τὸν ἄνθροπον καὶ οὖς ἐξιχνιάσεται κόσμιον παραβολῶν. Πολλὰ, κ.τ.λ. ‘and for the rest, because the Preacher was wise, and because he taught knowledge with respect to the man, and his ear will trace out the orderly arrangement of parables.’ Now, some curious features in this rendering deserve notice――the word κόσμιον occurs 1 Timothy ii. 9, and iii. 2; it is used as a neuter, ‘orderliness.’ Again, את העם is rendered σὺν τὸν ἄνθρωπον. B. omits and A² includes in brackets the καὶ, so marked, in the text; A² reads ἔτι; F.X. omit σὺν; F. reads [for ἄνθρωπον] λαὸν; E. ἐξιχνίασε; and D. κόσμον. Thus it appears probable that the LXX. read יחקר and as this future follows the past, we have the sense of the imperfect: they also translated σὺν τὸν ἄνθρωπον, because they considered העם as used generically――see chapter iv. 16, and in the same sense. If, however, the Hebrew text were altered, which would be done simply by lengthening the jud י into van ו, the rendering of the LXX. would become unintelligible, and hence the variations, especially that of E. Then אזן, which is really nominative to יחקר, and emphatic as standing before it, came to be regarded as a verb and pointed piel, the only instance of such pointing that occurs, and then accenting וְחִקֵּ֔ר with zakeph, the Masorets made these two words a parenthesis, and pointed ‎‏תִּקֵּן as a piel pret., instead of a noun as do the LXX.; they then make ‎‏הרבה singular agree with the plural משלים, which would, according to the usage of this book, be distributive. On the whole, however, it seems very probable that the LXX. have preserved the right reading, or at least the meaning of the passage; this meaning is, ‘and for the rest, because Koheleth _was_ a wise man, still he taught knowledge with respect to the people, and his ear [_i.e._ judgment, for the word contains the idea of weighing as in a balance] was seeking out an orderly meaning [or solution] of parables;’ by parables he means doubtless the mysterious facts cited. The next verse takes this thought up thus: ‘Very much sought Koheleth in order to find words of providence――and written correctly words of truth.’ If the reading were really וכתוב, and not, as we may conjecture, יכתוב, we should then read ‘he was writing,’ which it must be confessed makes excellent sense. The LXX. render here [καὶ] γεγραμμένον εὐθύτητος λόγους ἀληθείας, in the accusative, governed by ἐζήτησεν, and the meaning is therefore, ‘sought ... a thing written of right [even] words of truth.’ This agrees altogether with the context, and also is cognate with what follows).