Pengkhotbah 5:8

Government Corruption

5:8 If you see the extortion ¹  of the poor,

or the perversion ²  of justice and fairness in the government, ³ 

do not be astonished by the matter.

For the high official is watched by a higher official, ⁴ 

and there are higher ones over them! ⁵ 

Pengkhotbah 5:13

Materialism Thwarts Enjoyment of Life

5:13 Here is ⁶  a misfortune ⁷  on earth ⁸  that I have seen:

Wealth hoarded by its owner to his own misery.

Keluaran 14:5-9

14:5 When it was reported ⁹  to the king of Egypt that the people had fled, ¹⁰  the heart of Pharaoh and his servants was turned against the people, and the king and his servants said, ¹¹  “What in the world have we done? ¹²  For we have released the people of Israel ¹³  from serving us!” 14:6 Then he prepared ¹⁴  his chariots and took his army ¹⁵  with him. 14:7 He took six hundred select ¹⁶  chariots, and all the rest of the chariots of Egypt, ¹⁷  and officers ¹⁸  on all of them.

14:8 But the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he chased after the Israelites. Now the Israelites were going out defiantly. ¹⁹  14:9 The Egyptians chased after them, and all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh and his horsemen and his army overtook them camping by the sea, beside Pi-hahiroth, before Baal-Zephon.

Keluaran 14:28

14:28 The water returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen and all the army of Pharaoh that was coming after the Israelites into the sea ²⁰  – not so much as one of them survived! ²¹ 

Ulangan 2:30

2:30 But King Sihon of Heshbon was unwilling to allow us to pass near him because the Lord our ²²  God had made him obstinate ²³  and stubborn ²⁴  so that he might deliver him over to you ²⁵  this very day.

Ulangan 2:2

2:2 At this point the Lord said to me,

Kisah Para Rasul 14:10-12

14:10 he said with a loud voice, “Stand upright on your feet.” ²⁶  And the man ²⁷  leaped up and began walking. ²⁸  14:11 So when the crowds saw what Paul had done, they shouted ²⁹  in the Lycaonian language, ³⁰  “The gods have come down to us in human form!” ³¹  14:12 They began to call ³²  Barnabas Zeus ³³  and Paul Hermes, ³⁴  because he was the chief speaker.

Kisah Para Rasul 25:7

25:7 When he arrived, the Jews who had come down from Jerusalem stood around him, ³⁵  bringing many serious ³⁶  charges that they were not able to prove. ³⁷ 

[5:8]  ¹ tn Alternately, “oppression.” The term עֹשֶׁק (’osheq) has a basic two-fold range of meaning: (1) “oppression; brutality” (e.g., Isa 54:14); and (2) “extortion” (e.g., Ps 62:11); see HALOT 897 s.v. עֹשֶׁק; BDB 799 s.v. עֹשֶׁק. The LXX understands the term as “oppression,” as the translation συκοφαντίαν (sukofantian, “oppression”) indicates. Likewise, HALOT 897 s.v. עֹשֶׁק 1 classifies this usage as “oppression” against the poor. However, the context of 5:8-9 [7-8 HT] focuses on corrupt government officials robbing people of the fruit of their labor through extortion and the perversion of justice.

[5:8]  ² tn Heb “robbery.” The noun גֵזֶל (gezel, “robbery”) refers to the wrestling away of righteousness or the perversion of justice (HALOT 186 s.v. גֵּזֶל). The related forms of the root גזל mean “to rob; to loot” (HALOT 186 s.v. גֵּזֶל). The term “robbery” is used as a figure for the perversion of justice (hypocatastasis): just as a thief robs his victims through physical violence, so corrupt government officials “rob” the poor through the perversion of justice.

[5:8]  ³ tn Heb “in the province.”

[5:8]  ⁴ tn The word “official” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity.

[5:8]  ⁵ sn And there are higher ones over them! This may describe a corrupt system of government in which each level of hierarchy exploits its subordinates, all the way down to the peasants: “Set in authority over the people is an official who enriches himself at their expense; he is watched by a more authoritative governor who also has his share of the spoils; and above them are other officers of the State who likewise have to be satisfied”; see A. Cohen, The Five Megilloth (SoBB), 141.

[5:13]  ⁶ tn Heb “there is.” The term יֵשׁ (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” (e.g., 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]).

[5:13]  ⁷ tn The noun רָעָה (ra’ah, “evil”) probably means “misfortune” (HALOT 1263 s.v. רָעָה 4) or “injustice, wrong” (HALOT 1262 s.v. רָעָה 2.b). The phrase רָעָה רַבָּה (ra’ah rabbah) connotes “grave injustice” or “great misfortune” (Eccl 2:17; 5:12, 15; 6:1; 10:5).

[5:13]  ⁸ tn Heb “under the sun.”

[14:5]  ⁹ tn Heb “and it was told.” The present translation uses “reported,” since this involves information given to a superior.

[14:5]  ¹⁰ tn The verb must be given a past perfect translation because the fleeing occurred before the telling.

[14:5]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and they said.” The referent (the king and his servants) is supplied for clarity.

[14:5]  ¹² tn The question literally is “What is this we have done?” The demonstrative pronoun is used as an enclitic particle for emphasis (R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 24, §118).

[14:5]  ¹³ tn Heb “released Israel.” By metonymy the name of the nation is used collectively for the people who constitute it (the Israelites).

[14:6]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “bound.”

[14:6]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “his people.”

[14:7]  ¹⁶ tn The passive participle of the verb “to choose” means that these were “choice” or superb chariots.

[14:7]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “every chariot of Egypt.” After the mention of the best chariots, the meaning of this description is “all the other chariots.”

[14:7]  ¹⁸ tn The word שָׁלִשִׁם (shalishim) means “officers” or some special kind of military personnel. At one time it was taken to mean a “three man chariot,” but the pictures of Egyptian chariots only show two in a chariot. It may mean officers near the king, “men of the third rank” (B. Jacob, Exodus, 394). So the chariots and the crew represented the elite. See the old view by A. E. Cowley that linked it to a Hittite word (“A Hittite Word in Hebrew,” JTS 21 [1920]: 326), and the more recent work by P. C. Craigie connecting it to Egyptian “commander” (“An Egyptian Expression in the Song of the Sea: Exodus XV.4,” VT 20 [1970]: 85).

[14:8]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “with a high hand”; the expression means “defiantly,” “boldly,” or “with confidence.” The phrase is usually used for arrogant sin and pride, the defiant fist, as it were. The image of the high hand can also mean the hand raised to deliver a blow (Job 38:15). So the narrative here builds tension between these two resolute forces.

[14:28]  ²⁰ tn Heb “that was coming after them into the sea.” The referent of “them” (the Israelites) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[14:28]  ²¹ tn Heb “not was left among them as much as one.”

[2:30]  ²² tc The translation follows the LXX in reading the first person pronoun. The MT, followed by many English versions, has a second person masculine singular pronoun, “your.”

[2:30]  ²³ tn Heb “hardened his spirit” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV); NIV “made his spirit stubborn.”

[2:30]  ²⁴ tn Heb “made his heart obstinate” (so KJV, NASB); NRSV “made his heart defiant.”

[2:30]  ²⁵ tn Heb “into your hand.”

[14:10]  ²⁶ tn BDAG 722 s.v. ὀρθός 1.a has “stand upright on your feet.”

[14:10]  ²⁷ tn Grk “he”; the referent (the man) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[14:10]  ²⁸ tn This verb is imperfect tense in contrast to the previous verb, which is aorist. It has been translated ingressively, since the start of a sequence is in view here.

[14:11]  ²⁹ tn Grk “they lifted up their voice” (an idiom).

[14:11]  ³⁰ tn Grk “in Lycaonian, saying.” The word “language” is not in the Greek text, but is implied. The participle λέγοντες (legontes) is redundant in English and has not been translated.

[14:11]  ³¹ tn So BDAG 707 s.v. ὁμοιόω 1. However, L&N 64.4 takes the participle ὁμοιωθέντες (Jomoiwqente") as an adjectival participle modifying θεοί (qeoi): “the gods resembling men have come down to us.”

[14:11]  sn The gods have come down to us in human form. Greek culture spoke of “divine men.” In this region there was a story of Zeus and Hermes visiting the area (Ovid, Metamorphoses 8.611-725). The locals failed to acknowledge them, so judgment followed. The present crowd was determined not to make the mistake a second time.

[14:12]  ³² tn The imperfect verb ἐκάλουν (ekaloun) has been translated as an ingressive imperfect.

[14:12]  ³³ sn Zeus was the chief Greek deity, worshiped throughout the Greco-Roman world (known to the Romans as Jupiter).

[14:12]  ³⁴ sn Hermes was a Greek god who (according to Greek mythology) was the messenger of the gods and the god of oratory (equivalent to the Roman god Mercury).

[25:7]  ³⁵ tn BDAG 801 s.v. περιίστημι 1.a has “περιέστησαν αὐτὸν οἱ ᾿Ιουδαῖοι the Judeans stood around him 25:7.”

[25:7]  ³⁶ tn Grk “many and serious.” The term βαρύς (barus) refers to weighty or serious charges (BDAG 167 s.v. 1).

[25:7]  ³⁷ tn The term ἀποδείκνυμι (apodeiknumi) in a legal context refers to legal proof (4 Macc 1:8; BDAG 108 s.v. 3).