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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - Ecclesiastes 8:14 - 8:14
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“There is a vanity which is done on the earth; that there be just men, to whom it happeneth according to the conduct of the wicked; and that there be wicked men, to whom it happeneth according to the conduct of the righteous - I said, that also this is vain.” The limiting clause with ki gam, Ecc 8:12, Ecc 8:13, is subordinated to the observation specified in Ecc 8:10-12, and the confirmation of it is continued here in Ecc 8:14. Regarding הִגִּיעַ, to happen, vid., above, p. 639, under נָגַע. Jerome translates כְּם הרְ by quasi opera egerint impiorum, and כם הַץַ by quasi justorum facta habeant; instar operis ... would be better, such as is conformable to the mode of acting of the one and of the other; for כ is in the Semitic style of speech a nomen, which annexes to itself the word that follows it in the genitive, and runs through all the relations of case. This contradictory distribution of destiny deceives, misleads, and causes to err; it belongs to the illusory shadowy side of this present life, it is a hevel. The concluding clause of this verse: “I said, that also this is vain,” begins to draw the facit from the observation, and is continued in the verse following.