Some versions (Good News Translation, New Jerusalem Bible, New International Version) link the beginning of this verse to verse 13, making it part of the same paragraph. Verse 14b then begins a new paragraph. Literally verse 14a says “and the fool multiplies words.” Dividing verse 14 in this way has merit, as it means there is an inclusion, with verse 12 beginning with “words,” and this section ending with the same term. Others see a connection between “many words” and the important comments later in verse 14. The reason for this different understanding is that verse 14a can be treated as an independent saying whose connection with the second half of the verse is unclear and uncertain.

Although many versions make verse 14a part of the previous paragraph, we can also see a link to what follows: Qoheleth notes how fools always have too much to say and so display their ignorance and folly ever more widely. In particular, thinking that they can foretell the future, it becomes their favorite topic of conversation. The translator will need to decide, then, whether to let verse 14a flow from verse 13 and to begin a new paragraph at verse 14b, or whether the entire text of verse 14 should be considered as a unit. Our preference is to keep verse 14 as a whole rather than breaking it into two parts, because there does seem to be a link between the fool’s many words and the content of those words: what is to be.

A fool multiplies words: this is a general criticism—fools tend to have too much to say (compare Pro 10.19). The Hebrew verb form used in this clause indicates ongoing repetitive action. It is well expressed as multiplies by Revised Standard Version. Good News Translation and New English Bible “talks on and on” also conveys the meaning well. Because Qoheleth’s comment is meant as a criticism of the fool, it is also legitimate to say “The fool talks too much” or “The fool has too much to say.” As noted above, it is likely that the fool is making vain predictions or boasting about what he will do in the future. The Hebrew text is vague, so it is best to translate in a manner that will preserve its generalized sense rather than to try to say what it is he talks about.

Though no man knows what is to be: the subject of this verbal phrase is the general term meaning “human beings.” Qoheleth turns the reader’s attention back to chapter 8 and elsewhere, where he has argued that to be human means there are so many things we can never know; our human minds are too limited to know everything. What is to be speaks of future events. Just how far into the future these events are is largely unimportant. The phrase itself has been used by Qoheleth in 8.7, so refer to comments there.

Revised Standard Version begins the first clause of this second half of the verse with though, yet no conjunction is present in the original. It can therefore be omitted in the translation if desired. Translation can be “No person can know the future.” Good News Translation “No one knows what is going to happen next” is acceptable but ignores the context provided by the second clause.

And who can tell him what will be after him? is parallel in intent with the previous one. Only the form differs slightly. Here Qoheleth uses a rhetorical question similar to the one he used in 6.12 (see comments there). We have the choice of expressing the thought in the same question form, or using a negative statement like “nobody can tell what will happen….”

On the problem of the time phrase after him, refer to the discussion in 6.12. Here we simply note two possible meanings: it may refer to either (1) what happens in the world after we leave it, or (2) what happens to each individual after we die and pass from this world. In both cases after him points to a person’s death and what might follow that. A general translation can include both ideas; for example:

• A fool talks on and on, yet no person can know the future. Nobody can tell what will happen after we die.

• A fool never stops talking. No one knows what the future holds. Who can say what will happen after we die?

Quoted with permission from Ogden, Graham S. and Zogbo, Lynell. A Handbook on the Book of Ecclesiates. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1997. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .