The Doings of the Wicked in Qohelet 8:10

Abstract

Minor and reasonable emendations produce the following reading: “and also I saw wicked frequenting graves, and necromancer, and place of a holy. And they were forgotten in the city in which they did so (correctly?). This too is absurd.” The verse is an observation regarding repenting evil-doers. Their acts of piety are forgotten in their own city, though they could have served as actual examples for justifying God’s being ‘slow to anger.’