The “road” imagery of verse 2 continues here, with the focus this time on the fool. Because fool is already the subject in the last clause, some languages will prefer to use a pronoun here rather than to repeat the noun fool.

Even … on the road: the opening phrase in Hebrew, “Even [Also] on the road,” introduces an example of foolish behavior. Here road represents the places where everybody can see the fool and what he does. Road can also be a metaphor for a person’s lifestyle, as in Pro 5.6 (“path”), 8 (“way”); 11.5 (“way”).

The time phrase when the fool walks may be rendered literally. Alternatively, if road is a metaphor, we can say “Also, the way the fool conducts himself,” “… behaves,” or even “… lives his life.” New Revised Standard Version renders the fool by the plural “fools” to indicate that the singular form refers to an entire class of people. This avoids the possible impression that Qoheleth is speaking of only one individual fool. Translators can follow this approach if it is thought useful.

The precise meaning of the Hebrew verb “go,” translated here as walks, may cause some difficulty to the translator. New Jerusalem Bible and Revised English Bible take the phrase to mean when the fool “travels” or goes on a journey. Some French versions (for example Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, Bible de Jérusalem) translate as the verb “advance.” Combined with the particle gam, “even when,” or “even if,” this gives the impression that even if the fool makes a little headway in some pursuit, his behavior is still foolish. This seems a possible rendering, though it is more common for this verb to mean simply “go,” or “walk.” A general rendering is best.

He lacks sense, literally “his heart is lacking,” uses the participle of a verb to represent a permanent state of affairs. The word “heart” links this verse back to the previous one. It is common in many languages to speak of the fool as “lacking” or “being short of” something. Qoheleth describes him as “having no brains,” or “having no sense.” To connect this phrase with the previous one it may be necessary to add something like “it is plain that…” or “you can see that….”

We can translate in the following manner:

• Even when the fool walks along the street, it is clear that he is stupid.

• Also in the way he conducts himself, he shows he lacks all sense.

And he says to every one: the verb says can be either literal or figurative. That is to say, the fool may actually speak to those he passes on the way. Or, in a figurative way, his foolish conduct itself announces to everyone what he is like.

That he is a fool is the content of what he says. It is an ambiguous statement, because if says is taken literally we cannot be certain who is intended by the pronoun he. It may be that it refers to the fool himself, or it may be the collective public “everyone.” This gives two translation possibilities: “the fool declares to everyone, ‘I am a fool,’ ” or “the fool tells everyone, ‘You are foolish.’ ” We may also wish to retain an ambiguous translation like Revised Standard Version. Good News Translation decides that the fool “lets everyone know that he is a fool.” Jerusalem Bible says “he makes clear to all what a fool he is.” The fool is so stupid that he does not realize how foolish he is, so it is more than likely that the meaning is that his conduct declares to others how foolish he is. This can then be the text we adopt, but it may be wise to place the alternative understanding in a footnote.

A translation possibility is:

• And, as he is going on his way, he has no sense and shows everyone how foolish he is.*

The footnote can say:
*The Hebrew text is literally “He says to all what a fool he is.” Another meaning can be “He says to everyone what fools they are.”

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 .