Luke 19:44

19:44 They will demolish you ¹  – you and your children within your walls ²  – and they will not leave within you one stone ³  on top of another, ⁴  because you did not recognize the time of your visitation from God.” ⁵ 

Luke 19:1

Jesus and Zacchaeus

19:1 Jesus ⁶  entered Jericho ⁷  and was passing through it.

Ecclesiastes 2:12

Wisdom is Better than Folly

2:12 Next, I decided to consider ⁸  wisdom, as well as foolish behavior and ideas. ⁹ 

For what more can the king’s successor do than what the king ¹⁰  has already done?

¹ tn Grk “They will raze you to the ground.”

² tn Grk “your children within you.” The phrase “[your] walls” has been supplied in the translation to clarify that the city of Jerusalem, metaphorically pictured as an individual, is spoken of here.

³ sn (Not) one stone on top of another is an idiom for total destruction.

⁴ tn Grk “leave stone on stone.”

⁵ tn Grk “the time of your visitation.” To clarify what this refers to, the words “from God” are supplied at the end of the verse, although they do not occur in the Greek text.

⁶ tn Grk “And entering, he passed through”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity. Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

⁷ map For location see Map5-B2; Map6-E1; Map7-E1; Map8-E3; Map10-A2; Map11-A1.

¹¹ tn Heb “and I turned to see.”

¹² sn See 1:17 for the same expression. Throughout 2:1-11, Qoheleth evaluated the merits of merrymaking (2:1-3), accomplishing grand things (2:4-6), amassing great wealth (2:7-8), and secular acquisitions and accomplishments (2:9-10). Now, he reflects on the benefit in life in living wisely and not giving oneself over to frivolous self-indulgence.

¹³ tc The Hebrew text reads עָשׂוּהוּ (’asuhu, “they have done it”; Qal perfect 3rd person masculine plural from עָשַׂה [’asah] + 3rd person masculine singular suffix). However, many medieval Hebrew mss read עָשָׂהוּ (’asahu, “he has done”; Qal perfect 3rd person masculine singular from עָשַׂה), reflected in the LXX and Syriac. The error was caused by dittography (ו, vav, written twice) or by orthographic confusion between ו and ה (hey) in הוו (confused as והוו) at the end of 2:12 and beginning of 2:13. The 3rd person masculine singular referent of עָשׂוּהוּ “what he has done” is the king, that is, Qoheleth himself. The referent (the king) has been specified in the translation for clarity.