Hebrew word · H3148

יוֹתֵר

yoter

advantage

Yoter means 'remainder, surplus, more'. As an adverb it means 'besides, furthermore, too much' (Eccl 2:15; 7:16, 'do not be overly wise'). With min ('than, from') it means 'more than X', 'beyond X'.

Appears 9 times in 9 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) superiority, advantage, excess

adv

2) excess, better

conj

3) besides, moreover, more

Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of Ecclesiastes 12:12

Range of meaning

Yoter means 'remainder, surplus, more'. As an adverb it means 'besides, furthermore, too much' (Eccl 2:15; 7:16, 'do not be overly wise'). With min ('than, from') it means 'more than X', 'beyond X'.

Against the English

KJV/BSB 'by these... be admonished/further warned' takes min as 'by means of' and yoter as 'further', so the verse sounds like 'let these teach you'. ESV/NIV read 'beware of anything beyond these', which turns it into a boundary warning. YLT 'from these' stays ambiguous.

How it drifted

The KJV-style reading 'by these be admonished' goes back to older interpretation that treated yoter as 'furthermore', as in v. 9. Most modern lexicons and commentators prefer 'beyond these' as the more natural Hebrew with min.

Used elsewhere in the period

Yoter belongs to Qohelet's vocabulary of 'profit/surplus' (yitron, yoter). The Vulgate reads his amplius, fili mi, ne requiras, 'beyond these, my son, do not seek', which already takes it as a boundary. The LXX has perisson ex autōn, 'more than/out of them'.

From the study of Ecclesiastes 7:16

Range of meaning

From y-t-r, 'to remain, be left over.' As a noun: 'what is left over, surplus, advantage.' As an adverb: 'more, further, besides, exceedingly, too much.'

Against the English

Translated 'too', 'over' or 'overly'. That is correct, but English loses the link to Qohelet's key term yitrôn, 'profit, advantage, what is left over' ('What profit (yitrôn) has a man from all his labour?' 1:3).

Used elsewhere in the period

Qohelet-heavy. In 2:15 he says, 'why then was I so very (yôtēr) wise?', with the same question word (lāmmâ), the same root for wisdom, and the same yôtēr. In 6:8, 'what advantage (yôtēr) has the wise over the fool?' In 12:9, 'besides (yôtēr) being wise, Qohelet taught' (with an echo in 12:12). The Septuagint renders it περισσά, 'excessively', from the same Greek word family it uses for yitrôn.

Where it appears

1 Samuel · 1

  1. 1 Samuel 15:15 הַיּוֹתֵ֖ר the rest

    Saul answered, “The troops brought them from the Amalekites; they spared the best sheep and cattle to sacrifice to the LORD your God, but the rest we devoted to destruction.”

Esther · 1

  1. Esther 6:6 יוֹתֵ֥ר excess

    Haman entered, and the king asked him, “What should be done for the man whom the king is delighted to honor?” Now Haman thought to himself, “Whom would the king be delighted to honor more than me?”

Ecclesiastes · 7

  1. Ecclesiastes 2:15 יוֹתֵ֑ר excessively

    So I said to myself, “The fate of the fool will also befall me. What then have I gained by being wise?” And I said to myself that this too is futile.

  2. Ecclesiastes 6:8 יּוֹתֵ֥ר advantage

    What advantage, then, has the wise man over the fool? What gain comes to the poor man who knows how to conduct himself before others?

  3. Ecclesiastes 6:11 יֹּתֵ֖ר advantage

    For the more words, the more futility—and how does that profit anyone?

  4. Ecclesiastes 7:11 וְיֹתֵ֖ר and [is] an advantage

    Wisdom, like an inheritance, is good, and it benefits those who see the sun.

  5. Ecclesiastes 7:16 יוֹתֵ֑ר excess

    Do not be overly righteous, and do not make yourself too wise. Why should you destroy yourself?

    Here: 'Beyond what is there, to excess.' The word belongs to Qohelet's favourite word family about 'what is left over, profit, advantage' (yitrôn, 1:3). It quietly echoes 2:15, where he asks, 'why then was I so very (yôtēr) wise?'

  6. Ecclesiastes 12:9 וְיֹתֵ֕ר and besides

    Not only was the Teacher wise, but he also taught the people knowledge; he pondered, searched out, and arranged many proverbs.

    Here: Literally 'and something left over / extra'. It opens the epilogue and means 'beyond this' or 'in addition to the fact that'. It comes from the same root as yitron, 'gain, surplus', one of the book's key words.

  7. Ecclesiastes 12:12 וְיֹתֵ֥ר and excess

    And by these, my son, be further warned: There is no end to the making of many books, and much study wearies the body.

    Here: A favourite word of Ecclesiastes for 'surplus' or 'what goes beyond'. With the next word it means 'and beyond these' or 'and anything more than these'. The same word opened v. 9 ('besides being wise, Qohelet also taught...').

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.