Job 21:28-30
Context21:28 For you say,
‘Where now is the nobleman’s house, 1
and where are the tents in which the wicked lived?’ 2
21:29 Have you never questioned those who travel the roads?
Do you not recognize their accounts 3 –
21:30 that the evil man is spared
from the day of his misfortune,
that he is delivered 4
from the day of God’s wrath?
Ecclesiastes 8:14
Context8:14 Here is 5 another 6 enigma 7 that occurs on earth:
Sometimes there are righteous people who get what the wicked deserve, 8
and sometimes there are wicked people who get what the righteous deserve. 9
I said, “This also is an enigma.”
Ecclesiastes 9:1-3
Context9:1 So I reflected on all this, 10 attempting to clear 11 it all up.
I concluded that 12 the righteous and the wise, as well as their works, are in the hand of God;
whether a person will be loved or hated 13 –
no one knows what lies ahead. 14
9:2 Everyone shares the same fate 15 –
the righteous and the wicked,
the good and the bad, 16
the ceremonially clean and unclean,
those who offer sacrifices and those who do not.
What happens to the good person, also happens to the sinner; 17
what happens to those who make vows, also happens to those who are afraid to make vows.
9:3 This is the unfortunate fact 18 about everything that happens on earth: 19
the same fate awaits 20 everyone.
In addition to this, the hearts of all people 21 are full of evil,
and there is folly in their hearts during their lives – then they die. 22
[21:28] 1 sn The question implies the answer will be “vanished” or “gone.”
[21:28] 2 tn Heb “And where is the tent, the dwellings of the wicked.” The word “dwellings of the wicked” is in apposition to “tent.” A relative pronoun must be supplied in the translation.
[21:29] 3 tc The LXX reads, “Ask those who go by the way, and do not disown their signs.”
[21:30] 4 tn The verb means “to be led forth.” To be “led forth in the day of trouble” means to be delivered.
[8:14] 5 tn Heb “there is.” The term יֶשׁ (yesh, “there is”) is often used in aphorisms to assert the existence of a particular situation that occurs sometimes. It may indicate that the situation is not the rule but that it does occur on occasion, and may be nuanced “sometimes” (Prov 11:24; 13:7, 23; 14:12; 16:25; 18:24; 20:15; Eccl 2:21; 4:8; 5:12; 6:1; 7:15 [2x]; 8:14 [3x]).
[8:14] 6 tn The word “another” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity and smoothness.
[8:14] 7 tn Or “vanity” (again at the end of this verse). The Hebrew term הֶבֶל (hevel) here denotes “enigma,” that is, something that is difficult to understand. This sense is derived from the literal referent of breath, vapor or wind that cannot be seen; thus, “obscure; dark; difficult to understand; enigmatic” (see HALOT 236–37 s.v. I הֶבֶל; BDB 210–11 s.v. I הֶבֶל). It is used in this sense in reference to enigmas in life (6:2; 8:10, 14) and the future which is obscure (11:8, 10).
[8:14] 8 tn Heb “to whom it happens according to the deeds of the wicked”; or “who are punished for the deeds of the wicked.”
[8:14] 9 tn Heb “to whom it happens according to the deeds of the righteous”; or “who are rewarded for the deeds of the righteous.”
[9:1] 10 tn Heb “I laid all this to my heart.”
[9:1] 11 tn The term וְלָבוּר (velavur, conjunction + Qal infinitive construct from בּוּר, bur, “to make clear”) denotes “to examine; to make clear; to clear up; to explain” (HALOT 116 s.v. בור; BDB 101 s.v. בּוּר). The term is related to Arabic baraw “to examine” (G. R. Driver, “Supposed Arabisms in the Old Testament,” JBL 55 [1936]: 108). This verb is related to the Hebrew noun בֹּר (bor, “cleanness”) and adjective בַּר (bar, “clean”). The term is used in the OT only in Ecclesiastes (1:13; 2:3; 7:25; 9:1). This use of the infinitive has a connotative sense (“attempting to”), and functions in a complementary sense, relative to the main verb.
[9:1] 12 tn The words “I concluded that” do not appear in the Hebrew text, but are supplied in the translation for clarity.
[9:1] 13 tn Heb “whether love or hatred.”
[9:1] 14 tn Heb “man does not know anything before them.”
[9:2] 15 tn Heb “all things just as to everyone, one fate.”
[9:2] 16 tc The MT reads simply “the good,” but the Greek versions read “the good and the bad.” In contrast to the other four pairs in v. 2 (“the righteous and the wicked,” “those who sacrifice, and those who do not sacrifice,” “the good man…the sinner,” and “those who make vows…those who are afraid to make vows”), the MT has a triad in the second line: לַטּוֹב וְלַטָּהוֹר וְלַטָּמֵא (lattov vÿlattahor vÿlattame’, “the good, and the clean, and the unclean”). This reading in the Leningrad Codex (ca.
[9:2] 17 tn Heb “As is the good (man), so is the sinner.”
[9:3] 19 tn Heb “under the sun.”
[9:3] 20 tn The term “awaits” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for smoothness and stylistic reasons.
[9:3] 21 tn Heb “also the heart of the sons of man.” Here “heart” is a collective singular.
[9:3] 22 tn Heb “and after that [they go] to [the place of] the dead.”