Ecc 11:9-10 | JFB | STEP | 9. Rejoice —not advice, but warning. So , is irony; if thou dost rejoice ( carnally, , not moderately, as in ), &c., then "know that . . . God will bring thee into judgment" ( ). youth . . . youth —distinct Hebrew words, adolescence or boyhood (before ), and full-grown youth. It marks the gradual progress in self-indulgence, to which the young especially are prone; they see the roses, but do not discover the thorns, until pierced by them. Religion will cost self-denial, but the want of it infinitely more ( ).

Ecclesiastes 11:9-10

9. Rejoice—not advice, but warning. So 1Ki 22:15, is irony; if thou dost rejoice (carnally, Ec 2:2; 7:2, not moderately, as in Ec 5:18), &c., then "know that . . . God will bring thee into judgment" (Ec 3:17; 12:14).

youth . . . youth—distinct Hebrew words, adolescence or boyhood (before Ec 11:10), and full-grown youth. It marks the gradual progress in self-indulgence, to which the young especially are prone; they see the roses, but do not discover the thorns, until pierced by them. Religion will cost self-denial, but the want of it infinitely more (Lu 14:28).

10. sorrow—that is, the lusts that end in "sorrow," opposed to "rejoice," and "heart cheer thee" (Ec 11:9), Margin, "anger," that is, all "ways of thine heart"; "remove," &c., is thus opposed to "walk in," &c. (Ec 11:9).

flesh—the bodily organ by which the sensual thoughts of the "heart" are embodied in acts.

childhood—rather, "boyhood"; the same Hebrew word as the first, "youth" in Ec 11:9. A motive for self-restraint; the time is coming when the vigor of youth on which thou reliest, will seem vain, except in so far as it has been given to God (Ec 12:1).

youth—literally, the dawn of thy days.