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Selected Verse: Ecclesiates 4:12 - New American Standard Bible©
| Verse |
Translation |
Text |
| Ec 4:12 |
New American Standard Bible© |
And if one can overpower him who is alone, two can resist him. A cord of three strands is not quickly torn apart. |
| |
King James |
And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken. |
Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse
| A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882] |
one--enemy.
threefold cord--proverbial for a combination of many--for example, husband, wife, and children (Pro 11:14); so Christians (Luk 10:1; Col 2:2, Col 2:19). Untwist the cord, and the separate threads are easily "broken." |
| Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78] |
| "And if one shall violently assail him who is alone, two shall withstand him; and (finally) a threefold cord is not quickly broken asunder." The form yithqepho for yithqephehu, Job 15:24, is like hirdepho, Hos 8:3 = hirdephehu, Jdg 9:40. If we take תקף in the sense of to overpower, then the meaning is: If one can overpower him who is alone, then, on the contrary, two can maintain their ground against him (Herzf.); but the two אם, Ecc 4:10, Ecc 4:11, which are equivalent to ἐάν, exclude such a pure logical εἰ. And why should תקף, if it can mean overpowering, not also mean doing violence to by means of a sudden attack? In the Mishnic and Arab. it signifies to seize, to lay hold of; in the Aram. אתקף = החזיק, and also at Job 14:20; Job 15:24 (vid., Comm.), it may be understood of a violent assault, as well as of a completed subjugation; as נשׂא means to lift up and carry; עמד, to tread and to stand. But whether it be understood inchoat. or not, in any case האחד is not the assailant, who is much rather the unnamed subj. in יתקפי, but the one (the solitarius) who, if he is alone, must succumb; the construction of hithqepho haehhad follows the scheme of Exo 2:6, "she saw it, the child." To the assault expressed by תקף, there stands opposed the expression נגד עמד, which means to withstand any one with success; as עמד לפני, Kg2 10:4; Psa 147:17; Dan 8:7, means to maintain one's ground. Of three who hold together, 12a says nothing; the advance from two to three is thus made in the manner of a numerical proverb (vid., Proverbs, vol. I p. 13). If two hold together, that is seen to be good; but if there be three, this threefold bond is likened to a cord formed of three threads, which cannot easily be broken. Instead of the definite specific art. הח הם, we make use of the indefinite. Funiculus triplex difficile rumpitur is one of the winged expressions used by Koheleth. |
| Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65] |
| Prevail - Against either of them. |
19 and not holding fast to the head, from whom the entire body, being supplied and held together by the joints and ligaments, grows with a growth which is from God.
2 that their hearts may be encouraged, having been knit together in love, and attaining to all the wealth that comes from the full assurance of understanding, resulting in a true knowledge of God's mystery, that is, Christ Himself,
1 Now after this the Lord appointed seventy others, and sent them in pairs ahead of Him to every city and place where He Himself was going to come.
14 Where there is no guidance the people fall, But in abundance of counselors there is victory.
7 I saw him come beside the ram, and he was enraged at him; and he struck the ram and shattered his two horns, and the ram had no strength to withstand him. So he hurled him to the ground and trampled on him, and there was none to rescue the ram from his power.
17 He casts forth His ice as fragments; Who can stand before His cold?
4 But they feared greatly and said, "Behold, the two kings did not stand before him; how then can we stand?"
6 When she opened it, she saw the child, and behold, the boy was crying. And she had pity on him and said, "This is one of the Hebrews' children."
24 "Distress and anguish terrify him, They overpower him like a king ready for the attack,
20 "You forever overpower him and he departs; You change his appearance and send him away.
11 Furthermore, if two lie down together they keep warm, but how can one be warm alone?
10 For if either of them falls, the one will lift up his companion. But woe to the one who falls when there is not another to lift him up.
40 Abimelech chased him, and he fled before him; and many fell wounded up to the entrance of the gate.
3 Israel has rejected the good; The enemy will pursue him.
24 "Distress and anguish terrify him, They overpower him like a king ready for the attack,