(12.) =And I turned= (this coming immediately after a similar expression, verse 11, rises into emphasis; it equals our ‘again I turned’), =I myself= (emphatic, it was, as above, a personal experience), =to see wisdom and self-deceptions and also false successes= (the meaning of this passage most probably is, that Koheleth desired to see wisdom in conjunction with those two kinds of folly which he denotes respectively by הוללות, false expectations or hopes, see chapter i. 17, and סכלות, false wisdom, that kind of folly which is so either through ignorance or sin, but has to all appearance the semblance of wisdom, see chapter ii. 3. If he could succeed in accomplishing this, he might by his wisdom avoid the mistakes into which men fall). =For= (this must introduce a reason) =what?= (Genesis xx. 10, מָה, Genesis iv. 10, מֶה, both forms being similar in use) is =the man= (with the article; generic therefore, and equivalent to ‘what is the man?’) =who enters= (but as this is the contracted relative, it is equivalent to ‘that he should enter’) =after= (but the word is strictly speaking a noun plural in regimen, and means ‘that which comes after,’ ‘the sequel of’) =the king= (this the LXX. render by βουλῆς, the reasons of which we will discuss presently). =With respect to which= (for the את is emphatic, hence some of the recensions of the LXX. read σὺν τὰ ὅσα) =the present= (the present state of things, כבר in its usual meaning, which it has everywhere in Ecclesiastes, see chapter i. 10) =they make it= עשבהו, third person plural with the affix, which the LXX. refer back to המלך. The meaning of this passage has been much disputed, and our difficulties are not diminished by the very strange rendering of the LXX., which is usually dismissed by commentators as erroneous; an explanation, however, of this rendering will probably clear up the difficulty. We must first notice the corrupt state of the present text of the LXX. The Alexandrine reads ὅτι τίς ἄνθρωπος ἐπελεύσεται ὀπίσω τῆς βουλῆς τὰ ὅσα ἐποίησαν αὐτήν; E. X. read πάντα ὅσα; F. X. σὺν τὰ ὅσα; B. X. ἐποίησεν; and X. αὐτή; Aquila reads ὃς ἐπιλεύσεται ὀπίσω τοῦ βασιλέως; Symmachus, τί δὲ ὁ ἄνθρωπος ἵνα παρακολουθήση βουλῇ; Theodotion, ὃς ἐλεύσεται ὀπίσω τοῦ βασιλέως; but, as Field remarks (Hexapla, p. 384), it is doubtful whether the Syriac text reads (‡ Syriac word), ‘king,’ or (‡ Syriac word), ‘counsel.’ In the same way, Theodotion reads σὺν τὰ ὅσα ἐποίησαν αὐτήν.