Ecclesiastes 7:21
New International Version
Do not pay attention to every word people say, or you may hear your servant cursing you—

New Living Translation
Don’t eavesdrop on others—you may hear your servant curse you.

English Standard Version
Do not take to heart all the things that people say, lest you hear your servant cursing you.

Berean Standard Bible
Do not pay attention to every word that is spoken, or you may hear your servant cursing you.

King James Bible
Also take no heed unto all words that are spoken; lest thou hear thy servant curse thee:

New King James Version
Also do not take to heart everything people say, Lest you hear your servant cursing you.

New American Standard Bible
Also, do not take seriously all the words which are spoken, so that you do not hear your servant cursing you,

NASB 1995
Also, do not take seriously all words which are spoken, so that you will not hear your servant cursing you.

NASB 1977
Also, do not take seriously all words which are spoken, lest you hear your servant cursing you.

Legacy Standard Bible
Also, do not give your heart to all words which are spoken, so that you will not hear your slave cursing you.

Amplified Bible
Also, do not take seriously everything that is said, so that you will not hear your servant cursing you,

Christian Standard Bible
Don’t pay attention to everything people say, or you may hear your servant cursing you,

Holman Christian Standard Bible
Don’t pay attention to everything people say, or you may hear your servant cursing you,

American Standard Version
Also take not heed unto all words that are spoken, lest thou hear thy servant curse thee;

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
And also do not give your heart to all statements that the wicked will utter; do not listen to your servant who insults you

Brenton Septuagint Translation
Also take no heed to all the words which ungodly men shall speak; lest thou hear thy servant cursing thee.

Contemporary English Version
Don't listen to everything that everyone says, or you might hear your servant cursing you.

Douay-Rheims Bible
But do not apply thy heart to all words that are spoken: lest perhaps thou hear thy servant reviling thee.

English Revised Version
Also take not heed unto all words that are spoken; lest thou hear thy servant curse thee:

GOD'S WORD® Translation
Don't take everything that people say to heart, or you may hear your own servant cursing you.

Good News Translation
Don't pay attention to everything people say--you may hear your servant insulting you,

International Standard Version
Don't listen to everything that is spoken— you may hear your servant cursing you,

JPS Tanakh 1917
Also take not heed unto all words that are spoken, lest thou hear thy servant curse thee;

Literal Standard Version
Also to all the words that they speak do not give your heart, that you do not hear your servant reviling you.

Majority Standard Bible
Do not pay attention to every word that is spoken, or you may hear your servant cursing you.

New American Bible
Do not give your heart to every word that is spoken; you may hear your servant cursing you,

NET Bible
Also, do not pay attention to everything that people say; otherwise, you might even hear your servant cursing you.

New Revised Standard Version
Do not give heed to everything that people say, or you may hear your servant cursing you;

New Heart English Bible
Also do not take heed to all words that are spoken, lest you hear your servant curse you;

Webster's Bible Translation
Also take no heed to all words that are spoken; lest thou hear thy servant curse thee:

World English Bible
Also don’t take heed to all words that are spoken, lest you hear your servant curse you;

Young's Literal Translation
Also to all the words that they speak give not thy heart, that thou hear not thy servant reviling thee.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
The Limits of Human Wisdom
20Surely there is no righteous man on earth who does good and never sins. 21 Do not pay attention to every word that is spoken, or you may hear your servant cursing you. 22For you know in your heart that many times you yourself have cursed others.…

Cross References
Proverbs 30:10
Do not slander a servant to his master, or he will curse you, and you will bear the guilt.

Ecclesiastes 7:22
For you know in your heart that many times you yourself have cursed others.


Treasury of Scripture

Also take no heed to all words that are spoken; lest you hear your servant curse you:

take no heed

2 Samuel 19:19
And said unto the king, Let not my lord impute iniquity unto me, neither do thou remember that which thy servant did perversely the day that my lord the king went out of Jerusalem, that the king should take it to his heart.

unto

2 Samuel 16:10
And the king said, What have I to do with you, ye sons of Zeruiah? so let him curse, because the LORD hath said unto him, Curse David. Who shall then say, Wherefore hast thou done so?

Isaiah 29:21
That make a man an offender for a word, and lay a snare for him that reproveth in the gate, and turn aside the just for a thing of nought.

1 Corinthians 13:5-7
Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; …

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Attention Curse Curses Cursing Ear Fear Hear Hearing Heart Heed Pay Reviling Seriously Servant Speak Word Words
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Ecclesiastes 7
1. remedies against vanity are, a good name
2. mortification
7. patience
11. wisdom
23. The difficulty of wisdom














Verse 21. - Also take no heed unto all words that are spoken; literally, give not thy heart, as Ecclesiastes 1:13, etc. Here is another matter in which wisdom will lead to right conduct. You will not pay serious attention to evil reports either about yourself or others, nor regulate your views and actions according to such distortions of the truth. To be always hankering to know what people say of us is to set up a false standard, which will assuredly lead us astray; and, at the same time, we shall expose ourselves to the keen-eat mortification when we find, as we probably shall find, that they do not take us at our own valuation, but have thoroughly marked our weaknesses, and are ready enough to censure them. We have an instance of patience under unmerited reproof in the case of David when cursed by Shimei (2 Samuel 16:11), as he, or one like minded, says (Psalm 38:13), "I, as a deaf man, hear not; and I am as a dumb man that openeth not his mouth. Yea, I am as a man that heareth not, and in whose mouth are no reproofs." Corn. a Lapide comments in words to which no translation would do justice, "Verbaenim non aunt verbera; aerem feriunt non hominem, nisi qui its attendit mordetur, sauciatur." Lest thou hear thy servant curse thee. The servant is introduced as an example of a gossip or calumniator, because he, if any one, would be acquainted with his master's faults, and be most likely to disseminate his knowledge, and blame from such a quarter would be most intolerable. Commentators appositely quote Bacon's remarks on this passage in his 'Advancement of Learning,' 8:2, where he notes the prudence of Pompey, who burned all the papers of Sertorius reread, containing, as they did, information which would fatally have compromised many leading men in Rome.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
Do not
אַל־ (’al-)
Adverb
Strong's 408: Not

pay
תִּתֵּ֖ן (tit·tên)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect - second person masculine singular
Strong's 5414: To give, put, set

attention
לִבֶּ֑ךָ (lib·be·ḵā)
Noun - masculine singular construct | second person masculine singular
Strong's 3820: The heart, the feelings, the will, the intellect, centre

to every
לְכָל־ (lə·ḵāl)
Preposition-l | Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 3605: The whole, all, any, every

word
הַדְּבָרִים֙ (had·də·ḇā·rîm)
Article | Noun - masculine plural
Strong's 1697: A word, a matter, thing, a cause

that is spoken,
יְדַבֵּ֔רוּ (yə·ḏab·bê·rū)
Verb - Piel - Imperfect - third person masculine plural
Strong's 1696: To arrange, to speak, to subdue

or
אֲשֶׁ֣ר (’ă·šer)
Pronoun - relative
Strong's 834: Who, which, what, that, when, where, how, because, in order that

you may hear
תִשְׁמַ֥ע (ṯiš·ma‘)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect - second person masculine singular
Strong's 8085: To hear intelligently

your servant
עַבְדְּךָ֖ (‘aḇ·də·ḵā)
Noun - masculine singular construct | second person masculine singular
Strong's 5650: Slave, servant

cursing you.
מְקַלְלֶֽךָ׃ (mə·qal·le·ḵā)
Verb - Piel - Participle - masculine singular construct | second person masculine singular
Strong's 7043: To be slight, swift or trifling


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OT Poetry: Ecclesiastes 7:21 Also don't take heed to all words (Ecclesiast. Ec Ecc Eccles.)
Ecclesiastes 7:20
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