13Better a poor but wise boy than an old and foolish king who no longer knows how to be wary.

The stated idea as it is understood in this translation is plausible: Qohelet was not merely a sage but, one might say, a lecturing and publishing sage, one who gave public instruction and edited and formulated maxims.

9Rejoice, young man, in your youth, and let your heart be merry in the days of your prime, and go about in the ways of your heart and what your eyes see. But know that for all these God will bring you to judgment. 10And remove worry from your heart, and take evil away from your flesh, for youth and the time of vigor are mere breath.

10And so have I seen the wicked brought to the grave, and from a holy place they went forth, while those who did right were forgotten in the town. This, too, is mere breath.

And I saw that nothing is better than that man should rejoice in his works, for that is his share, for who can bring him to see what will be after him?

8All things are weary. A man cannot speak. The eye is not sated with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing.

8Merest breath, said Qohelet. All is mere breath.

19For not much will he recall the days of his life, for God makes him busy with his heart’s delight.

(In the Hellenistic period, a flood of Greek words would enter the Hebrew language.)