Guard your steps, literally “Keep your foot,” is the first of four imperatives in this section. Guard has the basic meaning of preservation, of looking after something; it is the verb used in commands to “keep the Law” and “keep the sabbath day” (Deut 4.40; 5.12). From this basic concept comes the extended meaning “to be cautious or careful,” as in Pro 21.23: “He who keeps his mouth and his tongue.” It calls a person to think carefully before acting, as New English Bible “Go carefully” expresses.

Your steps renders the Hebrew “your feet” or “your foot.” There is some textual evidence for a plural form here. The word is used with a figurative sense, so whether it is singular or plural, the meaning is not affected. Qoheleth uses the word “foot” to talk about the way a person behaves, so we can render it as “the way you act” or “what you do.” “Foot” is used in this same sense of personal conduct in Pro 1.15-16. If a similar idiom exists in the translator’s language, this is, of course, the best choice. But we should be wary of translating literally, as some have done. “Guard your feet” does not mean “walk softly” or “don’t make any noise when you walk.”

For translation of the first part of the verse, we recommend:

• Be careful when you….

Or better yet,

• Think carefully about what you are doing when….

When you go to the house of God: the Hebrew here employs a verb form with habitual meaning, that is, it refers to an action that is repeated regularly. This can be effectively expressed as “whenever you go” or “each time you go.” The house of God has often been interpreted as a reference to the Temple in Jerusalem (as in Good News Translation) or as a synagogue. Both are possible. Alternatively we can retain the generalized expression and see it as referring to any sacred location where people meet for worship. Qoheleth’s advice is not confined to those times when people attend worship services at a particular site, but applies whenever a worshiper approaches God. In translation we convey this by something like “whenever you come before God” (Jerusalem Bible, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible), “whenever you come into God’s presence” (Knox), or “when you go to worship God.”

To draw near to listen introduces the first “better” saying. The clause consists of two infinitives. The first, draw near, describes the action of coming into the divine presence. It is a technical word and its meaning can be made clear by mentioning the object of the verb “draw near to God.” The second infinitive indicates the purpose for, or the result of, approaching God. Revised Standard Version renders this as to listen. This translation is not adequate, as the verb includes the notion of obedience; it is much more than simply listening to what a person says. It requires a response to what is heard. Good News Translation “learn” is perhaps too intellectual, so the term “obey” is to be preferred. See New American Bible, New English Bible “obedience.” This gives a possible translation, “Draw near to God by responding to what he says,” or “Come to God ready to obey him.”

Is better than to offer the sacrifice of fools: the second part of the “better” saying describes what we should not do, the kind of behavior that must be avoided. To offer the sacrifice of fools raises some problems. Who is offering the sacrifice? And what does the phrase sacrifice of fools mean? Looking back in the context we see that “you” is the subject to be understood for the verbs “offer” and “give.” In other words “it is better for you to draw near, ready to obey, than for you to offer….” If the phrase sacrifice of fools is taken to be the object of the verb “give,” then its meaning is most likely “the kind of sacrifice that fools give.” The context suggests that the kind of sacrifice fools offer is a sacrifice that does not demand obedience. Fools think all they need to do is offer something and all will be well. Another possibility is that they do not even think about the true meaning of sacrifice; they simply follow the ritual. Qoheleth certainly does not suggest that only fools offer sacrifice, and we have no grounds for arguing that he opposes the practice of offering sacrifices. Our translation must make clear that Qoheleth advises against those sacrifices that are foolishly offered, meaning that there is something wrong with them for some reason or another. Such defective offerings cannot have the desired effect, and perhaps are even offensive to God. A person who sacrifices in this way is a fool. Only the wise person comes before God with the proper attitude, namely, intending to obey.

To translate these ideas, the following examples may be considered:

• When you approach God it should be to hear and respond [or, to obey him], not to offer the kind of sacrifice that fools give.

• When you enter God’s presence, come ready to obey him. This way you will avoid making the kind of sacrifice fools offer.

• Approach God in humble obedience. This is better than simply offering a sacrifice without thinking what it means, as fools do.

• When you come before God, be ready to listen and obey. This is better than doing what fools do, not taking care to obey God.

For they do not know that they are doing evil: this Revised Standard Version rendering reflects a widely-held view of this clause’s meaning (see Amos 3.10 for similar grammatical structure and translation). However, if we look at its literal meaning, we find that there are other possible senses. The text runs “for they do not know to do evil.” Two words hold the key to our understanding: the first is the infinitive “to do”; the second is the word translated “evil.”

The infinitive “to do,” as the object of the verb “know,” clarifies what it is that they do not know. Revised Standard Version, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, Moffatt, and scholars like Barton translate it as “they know nothing other than how to do evil.” So also New American Bible “they know not how to keep from doing evil.” Others, for example Delitzsch, suggest that they do not know what they are doing, so (as a result) “they do evil.” The New English Bible offers another view. It suggests “they sin without a thought,” while Gordis thinks it means that as they lack intelligence, “they do not know how to do evil.” This view accords with Amos 3.10, but it is hardly consistent with Qoheleth’s views. Our understanding here is that doing evil is the object of the verbal phrase do not know, and that the appropriate translation is “they do not know that they are doing evil.”

The second element in our interpretation is the term raʿ, evil. The majority of uses of this adjective (as distinct from the form rashaʿ) in Qoheleth carry the idea of something disastrous and painful, not of moral failure and evil. Therefore the fool here is not doing something morally outrageous but something stupid. For this reason we reject the Good News Translation rendering, which treats the fool as having failed morally.

The translation models we suggest are:

• for they [or, fools] do not know that they are doing something stupid.

• for the fool is not aware of how dangerous that is.

• because fools are not aware of the evil they have done.

An overall model for this verse may be:

• Think carefully about what you are doing when you come before God. Be ready to listen and obey him. This is better than offering the kind of sacrifice fools do. They do not even know they are doing something foolish.

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 .