Texts in Conversation
The Hebrew version of Ecclesiastes describes wicked men entering and leaving the temple and boasting in the city. The Greek Septuagint reads the word as the wicked being carried to their tombs and praised, a protest that evildoers receive honored burial.
Share:
2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Ecclesiastes 8:10
Hebrew Bible
9 While applying my mind to everything that happens in this world, I have seen all this: Sometimes one person dominates other people to their harm. 10 Not only that, but I have seen the wicked approaching and entering the temple, and as they left the holy temple, they boasted in the city that they had done so. This also is an enigma. 11 When a sentence is not executed at once against a crime, the human heart is full to do evil.47
LXX Ecclesiastes 8:10
Septuagint
9 And I saw all of this, and I gave my heart to every activity that has been done under the sun, whatever things regarding which a person has authority over another person to mistreat him. 10 And then I saw the ungodly being brought into the tombs and from the holy place; and they went, and they were praised in the city because they acted like this. And this too is futility. 11 Because there is no controversy that comes from those who quickly do what is evil, therefore, the heart of the sons of humans was fully inclined in them to do what is wicked.
Search:
Notes and References
... It is clear that Qohelet intends to say that the wicked had fared well, whereas they deserved punishment. Qohelet’s argument, however, is not that the wicked have died (which he would surely have regarded as a good thing), but that they were accorded proper burial (“brought to the grave”) and, indeed, with rites usually reserved for the honored (“they proceeded from the holy place”), whereas the righteous are ignominiously abandoned in the city. The same point is made by Job, who complained that the wicked are not getting what they deserve; instead, when they die they are “brought to the grave,” and a watch is kept over their tomb, and a long funeral procession accompanies them (Job 21:32–33). Even in death the wicked are honored. ...
Seow, Choon-Leong
Ecclesiastes: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary
(pp. 284-285) Yale University Press, 2008
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
Your Feedback:
Leave a Comment
Anonymous comments are welcome. All comments are subject to moderation.