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13 Having heard everything, I have reached this conclusion:[a]
Fear God and keep his commandments,
because this is the whole duty[b] of man.
14 For God will evaluate every deed,[c]
including every secret thing, whether good or evil.

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Footnotes

  1. Ecclesiastes 12:13 tn Heb “The end of the matter, everything having been heard.”
  2. Ecclesiastes 12:13 tn Heb “This is all men”; or “This is the whole of man.” The phrase זֶה כָּל־הָאָדָם (zeh kol haʾadam, “this is all men”) features rhetorical elision of a key word. The ambiguity over the elided word has led to no less than five basic approaches: (1) “this is the whole duty of man” (KJV, ASV, RSV, NAB, NIV); (2) “this is the duty of all men” (MLB, ASV margin, RSV margin); (3) “this applies to all men” (NASB, NJPS); (4) “this is the whole duty of all men” (NRSV, Moffatt); and (5) “there is no more to man than this” (NEB). The four-fold repetition of כֹּל (kol, “all”) in 12:13-14 suggests that Qoheleth is emphasizing the “bottom line,” that is, the basic duty of man is simply to fear and obey God: After “all” (כֹּל) has been heard in the book, his conclusion is that the “whole” (כֹּל) duty of man is to obey God because God will bring “all” (כֹּל) acts into judgment, including “all” (כֹּל) that is hidden, whether good or bad. See D. Barthélemy, ed., Preliminary and Interim Report on the Hebrew Old Testament Text Project, 3:596.
  3. Ecclesiastes 12:14 tn Heb “will bring every deed into judgment.”

13 Now all has been heard;
    here is the conclusion of the matter:
Fear God(A) and keep his commandments,(B)
    for this is the duty of all mankind.(C)
14 For God will bring every deed into judgment,(D)
    including every hidden thing,(E)
    whether it is good or evil.

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