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Journey of a Passage

Ecclesiastes 8:10–14

The wicked buried: "forgotten" or "praised"?

A real difference between witnesses. The Masoretic Text says the wicked were "forgotten" (ve-yishtakkechu) in the city; the library's Greek and the Vulgate say they were "praised" (ve-yishtabbechu, one letter different), and so do many modern versions. Verses 12–14 then set faith ("it shall be well with them that fear God") beside observation (the righteous treated as the wicked deserve).

Manuscript variant: witnesses differ in wording

The family tree

Each row is a language or text tradition. Witnesses in the same row may share ancestry, revise one another, or have an uncertain relationship; the line under each box says which. A solid arrow appears only where direct copying or a documented revised edition is established. Order by date never implies copying. Scroll sideways on a phone.

✓ contains it · ✕ does not · ❝ quotes part of it · ⓘ reports on manuscripts · ▢ pages lost · – no copy survives

  • Same line, through lost copies
  • Translation
Hebrew
  1. The book as first writtenOften dated 4th–3rd century BC (debated)
  2. Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)AD 1008Descends, through lost copies, from The book as first written
Greek
  1. Greek Ecclesiastes (library: Giguet's French)Greek translation c. 1st–2nd century AD (debated); French 1872Translated from the Greek Ecclesiastes
Latin
  1. Latin Vulgate (Clementine)Jerome c. AD 398, from Hebrew; edition 1592Translated from the Hebrew text Jerome used
English
  1. King James Bible1611Translated from printed Masoretic Hebrew
New Testament quotation

    Every witness, in order

    1. Often dated 4th–3rd century BC (debated)

      The book as first written

      – No copy survives

      No original survives. The oldest Hebrew copies of Ecclesiastes are two Qumran fragments, 4Q109 (4QQoh-a, mid-2nd century BC, reported) and 4Q110 (4QQoh-b, reported).

    2. Jerome c. AD 398, from Hebrew; edition 1592

      Latin Vulgate (Clementine)

      ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from the Hebrew text Jerome used

      How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Clementine Vulgate (1592 edition).

      Vidi impios sepultos, qui etiam cum adhuc viverent in loco sancto erant, et laudabantur in civitate quasi justorum operum. Sed et hoc vanitas est. Etenim quia non profertur cito contra malos sententia, absque timore ullo filii hominum perpetrant mala. Attamen peccator ex eo quod centies facit malum, et per patientiam sustentatur; ego cognovi quod erit bonum timentibus Deum, qui verentur faciem ejus. Non sit bonum impio, nec prolongentur dies ejus, sed quasi umbra transeant qui non timent faciem Domini. Est et alia vanitas quæ fit super terram: sunt justi quibus mala proveniunt quasi opera egerint impiorum: et sunt impii qui ita securi sunt quasi justorum facta habeant. Sed et hoc vanissimum judico.

      Latin numbering: Ecclesiastes 8:10–14. Jerome translated Ecclesiastes from Hebrew (c. AD 398), after writing a commentary on it (c. 388); the Vulgate is an indirect witness to a Hebrew text, with Jerome's interpretation.

    3. AD 1008

      Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)

      ✓ Contains this passageDescends, through lost copies, from The book as first written

      How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Westminster Leningrad Codex, a digital transcription of the Leningrad Codex.

      וּבְכֵ֡ן רָאִיתִי֩ רְשָׁעִ֨ים קְבֻרִ֜ים וָבָ֗אוּ וּמִמְּק֤וֹם קָדוֹשׁ֙ יְהַלֵּ֔כוּ וְיִֽשְׁתַּכְּח֥וּ בָעִ֖יר אֲשֶׁ֣ר כֵּן־עָשׂ֑וּ גַּם־זֶ֖ה הָֽבֶל׃ אֲשֶׁר֙ אֵין־נַעֲשָׂ֣ה פִתְגָ֔ם מַעֲשֵׂ֥ה הָרָעָ֖ה מְהֵרָ֑ה עַל־כֵּ֡ן מָלֵ֞א לֵ֧ב בְּֽנֵי־הָאָדָ֛ם בָּהֶ֖ם לַעֲשׂ֥וֹת רָֽע׃ אֲשֶׁ֣ר חֹטֶ֗א עֹשֶׂ֥ה רָ֛ע מְאַ֖ת וּמַאֲרִ֣יךְ ל֑וֹ כִּ֚י גַּם־יוֹדֵ֣עַ אָ֔נִי אֲשֶׁ֤ר יִהְיֶה־טּוֹב֙ לְיִרְאֵ֣י הָאֱלֹהִ֔ים אֲשֶׁ֥ר יִֽירְא֖וּ מִלְּפָנָֽיו׃ וְטוֹב֙ לֹֽא־יִהְיֶ֣ה לָֽרָשָׁ֔ע וְלֹֽא־יַאֲרִ֥יךְ יָמִ֖ים כַּצֵּ֑ל אֲשֶׁ֛ר אֵינֶ֥נּוּ יָרֵ֖א מִלִּפְנֵ֥י אֱלֹהִֽים׃ יֶשׁ־הֶבֶל֮ אֲשֶׁ֣ר נַעֲשָׂ֣ה עַל־הָאָרֶץ֒ אֲשֶׁ֣ר ׀ יֵ֣שׁ צַדִּיקִ֗ים אֲשֶׁ֨ר מַגִּ֤יעַ אֲלֵהֶם֙ כְּמַעֲשֵׂ֣ה הָרְשָׁעִ֔ים וְיֵ֣שׁ רְשָׁעִ֔ים שֶׁמַּגִּ֥יעַ אֲלֵהֶ֖ם כְּמַעֲשֵׂ֣ה הַצַּדִּיקִ֑ים אָמַ֕רְתִּי שֶׁגַּם־זֶ֖ה הָֽבֶל׃

      And then I saw the wicked buried; they came and went from the holy place, and they were forgotten in the city where they had done so; this too is breath (v. 10)

      Hebrew numbering: Ecclesiastes 8:10–14.

    4. 1611

      King James Bible

      ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from printed Masoretic Hebrew

      How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: King James Version (1769 text).

      And so I saw the wicked buried, who had come and gone from the place of the holy, and they were forgotten in the city where they had so done: this is also vanity. Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil. Though a sinner do evil an hundred times, and his days be prolonged, yet surely I know that it shall be well with them that fear God, which fear before him: But it shall not be well with the wicked, neither shall he prolong his days, which are as a shadow; because he feareth not before God. There is a vanity which is done upon the earth; that there be just men, unto whom it happeneth according to the work of the wicked; again, there be wicked men, to whom it happeneth according to the work of the righteous: I said that this also is vanity.

    5. Greek translation c. 1st–2nd century AD (debated); French 1872

      Greek Ecclesiastes (library: Giguet's French)

      ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from the Greek Ecclesiastes

      How the site knows this: Known here only through a translation.

      Et j’ai vu des impies conduits à la sépulture, au sortir du lieu saint, et ils étaient allés dans leur voie, et ils avaient été loués dans la ville, parce qu’ils avaient ainsi fait; et cela encore est vanité. Car, parce que ceux qui font mal ne sont point repris incontinent, le cœur des fils des hommes s’enhardit par leur exemple à mal faire. Celui qui une fois a péché, a fait le mal depuis lors, et longtemps. Et moi je sais que Dieu est bon pour ceux qui craignent en sa présence. Mais le bonheur ne sera pas pour l’impie, et il n’aura pas de longs jours; ils passeront comme l’ombre, parce qu’il ne craint pas la face de Dieu. Voici encore une vanité qui existe sur la terre: il est des justes à qui il arrive comme à l’œuvre des impies; il est des impies à qui il arrive comme à l’œuvre des justes. Et cela, ai-je dit, est encore vanité.

      Greek (digital file) numbering: Ecclesiastes 8:10–14. Giguet's 1872 French of a printed Greek text (D check). A C check needs the Göttingen edition of Greek Ecclesiastes (P. J. Gentry, 2019).

    What changed, and why

    With "praised," the verse pictures the wicked honored at their funerals in the city where they did evil: a sharp image of injustice. With "forgotten," interpreters either refer it to the righteous (who came and went from the holy place and were forgotten) or to the wicked whose deeds are forgotten. The rest of 8:10 is also syntactically difficult.

    In 8:12 the Masoretic Text has a sinner doing evil "a hundred (me'at)" times; the library's Greek reads "since then (apo tote)" (Giguet "depuis lors"), which suggests a Hebrew me'az, again one letter different. The Vulgate follows the Hebrew (centies).

    Verses 12–13 ("I know that it shall be well with them that fear God") and v. 14 (the reversal of deserts) stand side by side. Some critics call 12–13 a pious addition; many commentators read the tension as Qoheleth's own: belief in God's justice held against what he sees.

    What the evidence shows

    • Independently documentedThe Greek and Vulgate read 'praised' in 8:10; the Masoretic Text 'forgotten.'
    • Independently documentedThe library's Greek of 8:12 reads 'since then' where the Hebrew has 'a hundred.'
    • Disputed'Praised' is original in 8:10.

    Sources

      Related lessons

      • Ecclesiastes 8: The King's Word and God's Work →Wisdom makes the face shine (8:1). Keep the king's command because of the oath of God; do not hurry out of his presence; "where the word of a king is, there is power: and who may say unto him, What doest thou?" (vv. 2–4). There is a time and judgment for everything, but no one knows what will be or controls the day of death (vv. 5–8). Qoheleth sees the wicked buried and honored (or forgotten) in the city (v. 10); because sentence is not carried out quickly, people grow bold in evil (v. 11). He still knows "it shall be well with them that fear God" (vv. 12–13), yet sees the righteous treated as the wicked deserve and the wicked as the righteous deserve (v. 14). So he commends joy (v. 15). However hard anyone seeks, "a man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun" (vv. 16–17).
      • Investigation: Injustice Under the Sun →Ecclesiastes looks at injustice more directly than any other wisdom book: wickedness in the courts, tears of the oppressed with no comforter, layers of officials, the righteous perishing and the wicked praised, the poor wise man forgotten, fools in high places. It holds three things in tension: what Qoheleth sees, what he believes about God's judgment, and the limits of human knowledge.
      • Investigation: Greek Ecclesiastes, a Different Kind of Translation →Greek Ecclesiastes is unusually literal, unlike the free Greek of Proverbs or the shorter Greek of Job. It even renders the Hebrew object marker et with the Greek preposition syn, a hallmark of the 2nd-century AD Jewish translator Aquila. Scholars debate whether it is Aquila's own early work, a translation from his school, or an earlier translation revised in that style. This investigation explains the evidence and lists the places where the library's Greek differs meaningfully from the Hebrew.