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Selected Verse: Ecclesiates 12:4 - Strong Concordance
Verse |
Translation |
Text |
Ec 12:4 |
Strong Concordance |
And the doors [01817] shall be shut [05462] in the streets [07784], when the sound [06963] of the grinding [02913] is low [08217], and he shall rise up [06965] at the voice [06963] of the bird [06833], and all the daughters [01323] of musick [07892] shall be brought low [07817]; |
|
King James |
And the doors shall be shut in the streets, when the sound of the grinding is low, and he shall rise up at the voice of the bird, and all the daughters of musick shall be brought low; |
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] |
doors--the lips, which are closely shut together as doors, by old men in eating, for, if they did not do so, the food would drop out (Job 41:14; Psa 141:3; Mic 7:5).
in the streets--that is, toward the street, "the outer doors" [MAURER and WEISS].
sound of . . . grinding--The teeth being almost gone, and the lips "shut" in eating, the sound of mastication is scarcely heard.
the bird--the cock. In the East all mostly rise with the dawn. But the old are glad to rise from their sleepless couch, or painful slumbers still earlier, namely, when the cock crows, before dawn (Job 7:4) [HOLDEN]. The least noise awakens them [WEISS].
daughters of music--the organs that produce and that enjoy music; the voice and ear. |
Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834] |
And the doors ... is low - The house is viewed from without. The way of entry and exit is stopped: little or no sound issues forth to tell of life stirring within. The old man, as he grows older, has less in common with the rising generation; mutual interest and social contact decline. Some take the doors and the sound of the mill as figures of the lips and ears and of the speech.
He shall rise ... - Here the metaphor of the house passes out of sight. The verb may either be taken impersonally ( "they shall rise," compare the next verse): or as definitely referring to an old man, who as the master of the house rises out of sleep at the first sound in the morning.
All the daughters of musick - i. e., Singing women Ecc 2:8.
Be brought low - i. e., Sound faintly in the ears of old age. |
Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78] |
From the eyes the allegory proceeds to the mouth, and the repugnance of the old man to every noise disturbing his rest: "And the doors to the street are closed, when the mill sounds low; and he rises up at the voice of a bird; and all the daughters of song must lower themselves." By the door toward the street the Talm. and Midrash understand the pores or the emptying members of the body, - a meaning so far from being ignoble, that even in the Jewish morning prayer a Beracha is found in these words: "Blessed art Thou, O Lord our God, King of the world, who hast wisely formed man, and made for him manifold apertures and cavities. It is manifest and well known before the throne of Thy Majesty, that if one of these cavities is opened, or one of these apertures closed, it is impossible for him to exist and to stand before Thee; blessed art Thou, O Lord, the Physician of the body, and who doest wondrous words!" The words which follow הטּ ... בּשׁ are accordingly to be regarded as assigning a reason for this closing: the non-appearance of excretion has its reason in defective digestion in this, that the stomach does not grind (Talm.: וגו בשרקבן
(Note: Cf. Berachoth 61b: The stomach (קורקבן) grinds. As hamses is properly the caul of the ruminant, so this word קוּרקבן is the crop (bibl. מראה) of the bird.)
בשביל). But the dual דּלתים suggests a pair of similar and related members, and בּשּׁוּק a pair of members open before the eyes, and not such as modesty requires to be veiled. The Targum therefore understands the shutting of the doors properly; but the mills, after the indication lying in הטּ grinding maids, it understands of the organs of eating and tasting, for it translates: "thy feet will be fettered, so that thou canst not go out into the street; and appetite will fail thee." But that is an awkward amalgamation of the literal with the allegorical, which condemns itself by this, that it separates the close connection of the two expressions required by בּשׁפל, which also may be said of the reference of dlt' to the ears, into which no sound, even from the noisy market, penetrates (Gurlitt, Grtz). We have for דלתים a key, already found by Aben Ezra, in Job 41:2, where the jaws of the leviathan are called פּניו דּלתי; and as Herzf. and Hitz. explain, so Samuel Aripol in his Commentary, which appeared in Constantinople, 1855, rightly: "He calls the jaws דלתים, to denote that not two דלתות in two places, but in one place, are meant, after the manner of a door opening out to the street, which is large, and consists of two folds or wings, דלתות, which, like the lips (השׂפתים, better: the jaws), form a whole in two parts; and the meaning is, that at the time of old age the lips are closed and drawn in, because the teeth have disappeared, or, as the text says, because the noise of the mill is low, just because he has no teeth to grind with." The connection of סגּרוּ and בּשׁפל is, however, closer still: the jaws of an old man are closed externally, for the sound of the mill is low; i.e., since, when one masticates his food with the jaws of a toothless mouth, there is heard only a dull sound of this chewing (Mumpfelns, vid., Wiegand's Deut. W.B.), i.e., laborious masticating. He cannot any more crack or crunch and break his food, one hears only a dull munching and sucking. - The voice of the mouth (Bauer, Hitz., Gurlitt, Zckl.) cannot be the meaning of קול הט; the set of teeth (Gurlitt indeed substitutes, Ecc 12:3, the cavity of the mouth) is not the organ of voice, although it contributes to the formation of certain sounds of words, and is of importance for the full sound of the voice.
בּשּׁוּק, "to the street," is here = on the street side; שׁפל is, as at Pro 16:19, infin. (Symmachus: ἀχρειωθείσης τῆς φωνῆς; the Venet.: ἐν τῷ ταπεινῶσθαι τὴν φωνήν), and is to be understood after Isa 29:4; טחנה stands for רחים, as the vulgar Arab. tahûn and matḥana instead of the antiquated raḥâ. Winzer now supposes that the picture of the night is continued in 4b: et subsistit (vox molae) ad cantum galli, et submissius canunt cantatrices (viz., molitrices). Elster, with Umbreit, supposes the description of a storm continued: the sparrow rises up to cry, and all the singing birds sink down (flutter restlessly on the ground). And Taylor supposes the lament for the dead continued, paraphrasing: But the bird of evil omen [owl, or raven] raises his dirge, and the merry voice of the singing girls is silent.
These three pictures, however, are mere fancies, and are also evidently here forced upon the text; for יקוט קול cannot mean subsistit vox, but, on the contrary (cf. Hos 10:14), surgit (tollitur) vox; and יקום לקול cannot mean: it (the bird) raises itself to cry, which would have required יקום לתת קולו, or at least לקּול, after למלחמה קום, etc.; besides, it is to be presumed that צפור is genit., like קול עוגב and the like, not nom. of the subj. It is natural, with Hitz., Ewald, Heiligst., Zck., to refer qol tsippor to the peeping, whispering voice ("Childish treble" of Shakespeare) of the old man (cf. stiphtseph, Isa 29:4; Isa 38:14; Isa 10:14; Isa 8:19). But the translation: "And it (the voice) approaches a sparrow's voice," is inadmissible, since for ל קום the meaning, "to pass from one state to another," cannot be proved from Sa1 22:13; Mic 2:8; קום signifies there always "to rise up," and besides, qol tahhanah is not the voice of the mouth supplied with teeth, but the sound of the chewing of a toothless mouth. If leqol is connected with a verb of external movement, or of that of the soul, it always denotes the occasion of this movement, Num 16:34; Eze 27:28; Job 21:12; Hab 3:16. Influenced by this inalienable sense of the language, the Talm. explains צף ... ויקום by "even a bird awakes him." Thus also literally the Midrash, and accordingly the Targ. paraphrasing: "thou shalt awaken out of thy sleep for a bird, as for thieves breaking in at night." That is correct, only it is unnecessary to limit ויקוּם (or rather ויקום,
(Note: Vav with Cholem in H. F. Thus rightly, according to the Masora, which places it in the catalogue of those words which occur once with a higher (יקום) and once with a lower vowel (yקוּם), Mas. fin. 2a b, Ochlaweochla, No. 5; cf. also Aben Ezra's Comm. under Psa 80:19; Zachoth 23a, Safa berura 21b (where Lipmann is uncertain as to the meaning).)
which accords with the still continued subordination of Ecc 12:4 to the eo die quo of Ecc 12:3) to rising up from sleep, as if it were synonymous with ויעור: the old man is weak (nervously weak) and easily frightened, and on account of the deadening of his senses (after the figure of Ecc 12:2, the darkening of the five stars) is so liable to mistake, that if even a bird chirps, he is frightened by it out of his rest (cf. hēkim, Isa 14:9).
Also in the interpretation of the clause haשׁיר ... וישּׁחוּ, the ancients are in the right track. The Talm. explains: even all music and song appear to him like common chattering (שׂוּחה or, according to other readings, שׂיחה); the proper meaning of ychsw is thus Haggad. twisted. Less correctly the Midrash: בנות השיר are his lips, or they are the reins which think, and the heart decides (on this curious psychol. conception, cf. Chullin 11a, and particularly Berachoth 61a, together with my Psychol. p. 269). The reference to the internal organs if priori improbable throughout; the Targ. with the right tact decides in favour of the lips: "And thy lips are untuned, so that they can no more say (sing) songs." In this translation of the Talm. there are compounded, as frequently, two different interpretations, viz., that interpretation of בן השׁ, which is proved by the כל going before to be incorrect, because impossible; and the interpretation of these "daughters of song" of "songs," as if these were synonymous designations, as when in Arab. misfortunes are called banatu binasan, and the like (vid., Lane's Lex. I p. 263); בּת קול, which in Mish. denotes a separate voice (the voice of heaven), but in Syr. the separate word, may be compared. But ישׁחוּ (fut. Niph. of שׁחח) will not accord with this interpretation. For that בן השׁ denotes songs (Hitz., Heiligst.), or the sound of singing (Bttch.), or the words (Ewald) of the old man himself, which are now softened down so as to be scarcely audible, is yet too improbable; it is an insipid idea that the old man gives forth these feeble "daughters of song" from his mouth. We explain ישׁחו of a being bowed down, which is external to the old man, and accordingly understand benoth hashshir not of pieces of music (Aq. πάντα τὰ τῆς ᾠδῆς) which must be lowered to pianissimo, but according to the parallel already rightly acknowledge by Desvoeux, Sa2 19:36, where the aged Barzillai says that he has now no longer an ear for the voice of singing men and singing women, of singing birds (cf. בּר זמירא of a singing bird in the Syrian fables of Sophos, and banoth of the branches of a fruit tree, Gen 49:22), and, indeed, so that these are a figure of all creatures skilled in singing, and taking pleasure in it: all beings that are fond of singing, and to which it has become as a second nature, must lower themselves, viz., the voice of their song (Isa 29:4) (cf. the Kal, Psa 35:14, and to the modal sense of the fut. Ecc 10:10, יגּבּר, and Ecc 10:19, ישׂמּח), i.e., must timidly retire, they dare not make themselves heard, because the old man, who is terrified by the twittering of a little bird, cannot bear it. |
Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65] |
In - Or, towards the streets: which lead into the streets. This may be understood either of the outward senses, which, as doors, let in outward objects to the soul: or rather the mouth, the two lips, here expressed by a word of the dual number, which like a door, open or shut the way that leads into the streets or common passages of the body; which also are principal instruments both of speaking and eating. And these are said to be shut, not absolutely, but comparatively, because men in old age grow dull and listless, having little appetite to eat, and are very frequently indisposed for discourse. When the sound - When the teeth are loose and few, whereby both his speech is low, and the noise which he makes in eating is but small. Shall rise - From his bed, being weary with lying, and unable to get sleep. The bird - As soon as the birds begin to chirp, which is early in the morning, whereas young men, can lie and sleep long. The daughters - All those senses which are employed in music. Brought low - Shall be cast down from their former excellency, and become incapable either of making musick, or of delighting in it. |
Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826 |
And the doors shall be shut in the streets -
5. The doors - the lips, which are the doors by which the mouth is closed.
6. Be shut in the streets - The cavities of the cheeks and jaws, through which the food may be said to travel before it is fitted by mastication or chewing to go down the aesophagus into the stomach. The doors or lips are shut to hinder the food in chewing from dropping out; as the teeth, which prevented that before, are now lost.
7. The sound of the grinding is low - Little noise is now made in eating, because the teeth are either lost, or become so infirm as not to nsuffer their being pressed close together; and the mouth being kept shut to hinder the food from dropping out, the sound in eating is scarcely heard. The teeth are divided into three kinds: -
1. The dentes incisores, or cutting teeth, in the front of the jaw.
2. The dentes canini, or dog teeth, those in the sides of the jaws, for gnawing, or tearing and separating hard or tough substances. And,
3. Dentes molares, or grinding teeth, the posterior or double teeth, in both jaws, generally termed the grinders; because their office is to grind down the substances that have been cut by the fore teeth, separated into their parts or fibres by the dog teeth, and thus prepare it for digestion in the stomach.
8. He shall rise up at the voice of the bird - His sleep is not sound as it used to be; he slumbers rather than sleeps; and the crowing of the cock awakes him. And so much difficulty does he find to respire while in bed, that he is glad of the dawn to rise up and get some relief. The chirping ot the sparrow is sufficient to awake him.
9. All the daughters of music shall be brought low - The Voice, that wonderful instrument, almost endless in the strength and variety of its tones, becomes feeble and squeaking, and merriment and pleasure are no more. The tones emitted are all of the querulous or mournful kind. |
4 When I lie down [07901], I say [0559], When shall I arise [06965], and the night [06153] be gone [04059]? and I am full [07646] of tossings to and fro [05076] unto the dawning of the day [05399].
5 Trust [0539] ye not in a friend [07453], put ye not confidence [0982] in a guide [0441]: keep [08104] the doors [06607] of thy mouth [06310] from her that lieth [07901] in thy bosom [02436].
3 Set [07896] a watch [08108], O LORD [03068], before my mouth [06310]; keep [05341] the door [01817] of my lips [08193].
14 Who can open [06605] the doors [01817] of his face [06440]? his teeth [08127] are terrible [0367] round about [05439].
8 I gathered [03664] me also silver [03701] and gold [02091], and the peculiar treasure [05459] of kings [04428] and of the provinces [04082]: I gat [06213] me men singers [07891] and women singers [07891], and the delights [08588] of the sons [01121] of men [0120], as musical instruments [07705] [07705], and that of all sorts.
19 A feast [03899] is made [06213] for laughter [07814], and wine [03196] maketh merry [08055] [02416]: but money [03701] answereth [06030] all things.
10 If the iron [01270] be blunt [06949], and he do not whet [07043] the edge [06440], then must he put [01396] to more strength [02428]: but wisdom [02451] is profitable [03504] to direct [03787].
14 I behaved [01980] myself as though he had been my friend [07453] or brother [0251]: I bowed down [07817] heavily [06937], as one that mourneth [057] for his mother [0517].
4 And thou shalt be brought down [08213], and shalt speak [01696] out of the ground [0776], and thy speech [0565] shall be low [07817] out of the dust [06083], and thy voice [06963] shall be, as of one that hath a familiar spirit [0178], out of the ground [0776], and thy speech [0565] shall whisper [06850] out of the dust [06083].
22 Joseph [03130] is a fruitful [06509] bough [01121], even a fruitful [06509] bough [01121] by a well [05869]; whose branches [01323] run [06805] over the wall [07791]:
36 Thy servant [05650] will go [05674] a little way [04592] over [05674] Jordan [03383] with the king [04428]: and why should the king [04428] recompense [01580] it me with such a reward [01578]?
9 Hell [07585] from beneath is moved [07264] for thee to meet [07125] thee at thy coming [0935]: it stirreth up [05782] the dead [07496] for thee, even all the chief ones [06260] of the earth [0776]; it hath raised up [06965] from their thrones [03678] all the kings [04428] of the nations [01471].
2 While the sun [08121], or the light [0216], or the moon [03394], or the stars [03556], be not darkened [02821], nor the clouds [05645] return [07725] after [0310] the rain [01653]:
3 In the day [03117] when the keepers [08104] of the house [01004] shall tremble [02111], and the strong [02428] men [0582] shall bow [05791] themselves, and the grinders [02912] cease [0988] because they are few [04591], and those that look out [07200] of the windows [0699] be darkened [02821],
4 And the doors [01817] shall be shut [05462] in the streets [07784], when the sound [06963] of the grinding [02913] is low [08217], and he shall rise up [06965] at the voice [06963] of the bird [06833], and all the daughters [01323] of musick [07892] shall be brought low [07817];
19 Turn us again [07725], O LORD [03068] God [0430] of hosts [06635], cause thy face [06440] to shine [0215]; and we shall be saved [03467].
16 When I heard [08085], my belly [0990] trembled [07264]; my lips [08193] quivered [06750] at the voice [06963]: rottenness [07538] entered [0935] into my bones [06106], and I trembled [07264] in myself, that I might rest [05117] in the day [03117] of trouble [06869]: when he cometh up [05927] unto the people [05971], he will invade them with his troops [01464].
12 They take [05375] the timbrel [08596] and harp [03658], and rejoice [08055] at the sound [06963] of the organ [05748].
28 The suburbs [04054] shall shake [07493] at the sound [06963] of the cry [02201] of thy pilots [02259].
34 And all Israel [03478] that were round about [05439] them fled [05127] at the cry [06963] of them: for they said [0559], Lest the earth [0776] swallow us up [01104] also.
8 Even of late [0865] my people [05971] is risen up [06965] as an enemy [0341]: ye pull off [06584] the robe [0145] with [04136] the garment [08008] from them that pass [05674] by securely [0983] as men averse [07725] from war [04421].
13 And Saul [07586] said [0559] unto him, Why have ye conspired [07194] against me, thou and the son [01121] of Jesse [03448], in that thou hast given [05414] him bread [03899], and a sword [02719], and hast enquired [07592] of God [0430] for him, that he should rise [06965] against me, to lie in wait [0693], as at this day [03117]?
19 And when they shall say [0559] unto you, Seek [01875] unto them that have familiar spirits [0178], and unto wizards [03049] that peep [06850], and that mutter [01897]: should not a people [05971] seek [01875] unto their God [0430]? for the living [02416] to the dead [04191]?
14 And my hand [03027] hath found [04672] as a nest [07064] the riches [02428] of the people [05971]: and as one gathereth [0622] eggs [01000] that are left [05800], have I gathered [0622] all the earth [0776]; and there was none that moved [05074] the wing [03671], or opened [06475] the mouth [06310], or peeped [06850].
14 Like a crane [05483] or a swallow [05693], so did I chatter [06850]: I did mourn [01897] as a dove [03123]: mine eyes [05869] fail [01809] with looking upward [04791]: O LORD [03068], I am oppressed [06234]; undertake [06148] for me.
4 And thou shalt be brought down [08213], and shalt speak [01696] out of the ground [0776], and thy speech [0565] shall be low [07817] out of the dust [06083], and thy voice [06963] shall be, as of one that hath a familiar spirit [0178], out of the ground [0776], and thy speech [0565] shall whisper [06850] out of the dust [06083].
14 Therefore shall a tumult [07588] arise [06965] among thy people [05971], and all thy fortresses [04013] shall be spoiled [07703], as Shalman [08020] spoiled [07701] Betharbel [01009] in the day [03117] of battle [04421]: the mother [0517] was dashed in pieces [07376] upon her children [01121].
4 And thou shalt be brought down [08213], and shalt speak [01696] out of the ground [0776], and thy speech [0565] shall be low [07817] out of the dust [06083], and thy voice [06963] shall be, as of one that hath a familiar spirit [0178], out of the ground [0776], and thy speech [0565] shall whisper [06850] out of the dust [06083].
19 Better [02896] it is to be of an humble [08217] spirit [07307] with the lowly [06035] [06041], than to divide [02505] the spoil [07998] with the proud [01343].
3 In the day [03117] when the keepers [08104] of the house [01004] shall tremble [02111], and the strong [02428] men [0582] shall bow [05791] themselves, and the grinders [02912] cease [0988] because they are few [04591], and those that look out [07200] of the windows [0699] be darkened [02821],
2 Canst thou put [07760] an hook [0100] into his nose [0639]? or bore [05344] his jaw [03895] through with a thorn [02336]?