Ecclesiastes 5:8

Young's Literal Translation (1862/1898)

If oppression of the poor, and violent taking away of judgment and righteousness thou seest in a province, do not marvel at the matter, for a higher than the high is observing, and high ones `are' over them.

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

וְיִתְר֥וֹן אֶ֖רֶץ בַּכֹּ֣ל *היא **ה֑וּא מֶ֥לֶךְ לְשָׂדֶ֖ה נֶעֱבָֽד׃

Transliteration

And yiṯrôn ʾereṣ in bakkōl hûʾ, meleḵ to śāḏeh neʿĕḇāḏ

Grammar Details

• *yiṯrôn*: noun, masculine singular construct - advantage/profit of
• *ʾereṣ*: noun, feminine singular - land/earth/ground
• *bakkōl*: preposition + definite article + noun, masculine singular - in the all/everything
• *hûʾ*: 3rd person masculine singular pronoun - he/it
• *meleḵ*: noun, masculine singular - king
• *śāḏeh*: noun, masculine singular - field
• *neʿĕḇāḏ*: niphal participle, masculine singular - being served/cultivated/worked

Word Meanings

• *yiṯrôn*: profit/advantage/excess/excellency
• *ʾereṣ*: land/earth/ground/territory/country
• *neʿĕḇāḏ*: being served/worked/cultivated/tilled
• *hûʾ*: he/it (text shows alternate reading between masculine and feminine forms)

Referenced Verses

• Ps 12:5 : 5 Because of the spoiling of the poor, Because of the groaning of the needy, Now do I arise, saith Jehovah, I set in safety `him who' doth breathe for it.
• Eccl 3:16 : 16 And again, I have seen under the sun the place of judgment -- there `is' the wicked; and the place of righteousness -- there `is' the wicked.
• Eccl 4:1 : 1 And I have turned, and I see all the oppressions that are done under the sun, and lo, the tear of the oppressed, and they have no comforter; and at the hand of their oppressors `is' power, and they have no comforter.
• Ps 82:1 : 1 -- A Psalm of Asaph. God hath stood in the company of God, In the midst God doth judge.
• Ps 83:18 : 18 And they know that Thou -- (Thy name `is' Jehovah -- by Thyself,) `Art' the Most High over all the earth!
• Ps 95:3 : 3 For a great God `is' Jehovah, And a great king over all gods.
• Ps 140:11-12 : 11 A talkative man is not established in the earth, One of violence -- evil hunteth to overflowing. 12 I have known that Jehovah doth execute The judgment of the afflicted, The judgment of the needy.
• Prov 8:17 : 17 I love those loving me, And those seeking me earnestly do find me.
• 1 Kgs 21:19-20 : 19 and thou hast spoken unto him, saying, Thus said Jehovah, Hast thou murdered, and also possessed? and thou hast spoken unto him, saying, Thus said Jehovah, In the place where the dogs licked the blood of Naboth, do the dogs lick thy blood, even thine.' 20 And Ahab saith unto Elijah, `Hast thou found me, O mine enemy?' and he saith, `I have found -- because of thy selling thyself to do the evil thing in the eyes of Jehovah;
• 1 Chr 21:15-16 : 15 and God sendeth a messenger to Jerusalem to destroy it, and as he is destroying Jehovah hath seen, and is comforted concerning the evil, and saith to the messenger who `is' destroying, `Enough, now, cease thy hand.' And the messenger of Jehovah is standing by the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite, 16 and David lifteth up his eyes, and seeth the messenger of Jehovah standing between the earth and the heavens, and his sword drawn in his hand, stretched out over Jerusalem, and David falleth, and the elders, covered with sackcloth, on their faces.
• Job 20:19-29 : 19 For he oppressed -- he forsook the poor, A house he hath taken violently away, And he doth not build it. 20 For he hath not known ease in his belly. With his desirable thing he delivereth not himself. 21 There is not a remnant to his food, Therefore his good doth not stay. 22 In the fulness of his sufficiency he is straitened. Every perverse hand doth meet him. 23 It cometh to pass, at the filling of his belly, He sendeth forth against him The fierceness of His anger, Yea, He raineth on him in his eating. 24 He fleeth from an iron weapon, Pass through him doth a bow of brass. 25 One hath drawn, And it cometh out from the body, And a glittering weapon from his gall proceedeth. On him `are' terrors. 26 All darkness is hid for his treasures, Consume him doth a fire not blown, Broken is the remnant in his tent. 27 Reveal do the heavens his iniquity, And earth is raising itself against him. 28 Remove doth the increase of his house, Poured forth in a day of His anger. 29 This `is' the portion of a wicked man from God. And an inheritance appointed him by God.
• Job 27:8-9 : 8 For what `is' the hope of the profane, When He doth cut off? When God doth cast off his soul? 9 His cry doth God hear, When distress cometh on him? 10 On the Mighty doth he delight himself? Call God at all times? 11 I shew you by the hand of God, That which `is' with the Mighty I hide not. 12 Lo, ye -- all of you -- have seen, And why `is' this -- ye are altogether vain? 13 This `is' the portion of wicked man with God, And the inheritance of terrible ones From the Mighty they receive. 14 If his sons multiply -- for them `is' a sword. And his offspring `are' not satisfied `with' bread. 15 His remnant in death are buried, And his widows do not weep. 16 If he heap up as dust silver, And as clay prepare clothing, 17 He prepareth -- and the righteous putteth `it' on, And the silver the innocent doth apportion. 18 He hath built as a moth his house, And as a booth a watchman hath made. 19 Rich he lieth down, and he is not gathered, His eyes he hath opened, and he is not. 20 Overtake him as waters do terrors, By night stolen him away hath a whirlwind. 21 Take him up doth an east wind, and he goeth, And it frighteneth him from his place, 22 And it casteth at him, and doth not spare, From its hand he diligently fleeth. 23 It clappeth at him its hands, And it hisseth at him from his place.
• Ps 10:17-18 : 17 The desire of the humble Thou hast heard, O Jehovah. Thou preparest their heart; Thou causest Thine ear to attend, 18 To judge the fatherless and bruised: He addeth no more to oppress -- man of the earth!
• Ps 55:9 : 9 Swallow up, O Lord, divide their tongue, For I saw violence and strife in a city.
• Ps 58:10-11 : 10 The righteous rejoiceth that he hath seen vengeance, His steps he washeth in the blood of the wicked. 11 And man saith: `Surely fruit `is' for the righteous: Surely there is a God judging in the earth!'
• Isa 3:15 : 15 What -- to you? ye bruise My people, And the faces of the poor ye grind.' An affirmation of the Lord, Jehovah of Hosts, And Jehovah saith:
• Isa 5:7 : 7 Because the vineyard of Jehovah of Hosts `Is' the house of Israel, And the man of Judah His pleasant plant, And He waiteth for judgment, and lo, oppression, For righteousness, and lo, a cry.
• Isa 10:5-7 : 5 Wo `to' Asshur, a rod of Mine anger, And a staff in their hand `is' Mine indignation. 6 Against a profane nation I send him, And concerning a people of My wrath I charge him, To spoil spoil, and to seize prey, And to make it a treading-place as the clay of out places. 7 And he -- he thinketh not so, And his heart reckoneth not so, For -- to destroy `is' in his heart, And to cut off nations not a few.
• Isa 10:12 : 12 And it hath come to pass, When the Lord doth fulfil all His work In mount Zion and in Jerusalem, I see concerning the fruit of the greatness Of the heart of the king of Asshur. And concerning the glory of the height of his eyes.
• Isa 37:36 : 36 And a messenger of Jehovah goeth out, and smiteth in the camp of Asshur a hundred and eighty and five thousand; and `men' rise early in the morning, and lo, all of them `are' dead corpses.
• Isa 46:10-11 : 10 Declaring from the beginning the latter end, And from of old that which hath not been done, Saying, `My counsel doth stand, And all My delight I do.' 11 Calling from the east a ravenous bird, From a far land the man of My counsel, Yea, I have spoken, yea, I bring it in, I have formed `it', yea, I do it.
• Isa 57:15 : 15 For thus said the high and exalted One, Inhabiting eternity, and holy `is' His name: `In the high and holy place I dwell, And with the bruised and humble of spirit, To revive the spirit of the humble, And to revive the heart of bruised ones,'
• Isa 59:13-16 : 13 Transgressing, and lying against Jehovah, And removing from after our God, Speaking oppression and apostacy, Conceiving and uttering from the heart Words of falsehood. 14 And removed backward is judgment, And righteousness afar off standeth, For truth hath been feeble in the street, And straightforwardness is not able to enter, 15 And the truth is lacking, And whoso is turning aside from evil, Is making himself a spoil. And Jehovah seeth, and it is evil in His eyes, That there is no judgment. 16 And He seeth that there is no man, And is astonished that there is no intercessor, And His own arm giveth salvation to Him, And His righteousness -- it sustained Him.
• Jer 22:17-19 : 17 But thine eyes and thy heart are not, Except on thy dishonest gain, And on shedding of innocent blood, And on oppression, and on doing of violence. 18 Therefore, thus said Jehovah concerning Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah: They do not lament for him, Ah, my brother, and Ah, sister, They do not lament for him, Ah, lord, and Ah, his honour. 19 The burial of an ass -- he is buried, Dragged and cast out thence to the gates of Jerusalem.
• Ezek 22:6-9 : 6 Lo, princes of Israel -- each according to his arm Have been in thee to shed blood. 7 Father and mother made light of in thee, To a sojourner they dealt oppressively in thy midst, Fatherless and widow they oppressed in thee. 8 My holy things thou hast despised, And My sabbaths thou hast polluted. 9 Men of slander have been in thee to shed blood, And on the mountains they have eaten in thee, Wickedness they have done in thy midst. 10 The nakedness of a father hath one uncovered in thee, The defiled of impurity they humbled in thee. 11 And each with the wife of his neighbour hath done abomination, And each his daughter-in-law hath defiled through wickedness, And each his sister, his father's daughter, hath humbled in thee. 12 A bribe they have taken in thee to shed blood, Usury and increase thou hast taken, And cuttest off thy neighbour by oppression, And Me thou hast forgotten, An affirmation of the Lord Jehovah! 13 And lo, I have smitten My hand, Because of thy dishonest gain that thou hast gained, And for thy blood that hath been in thy midst. 14 Doth thy heart stand -- are thy hands strong, For the days that I am dealing with thee? I, Jehovah, have spoken and have done `it'.
• Amos 5:12 : 12 For I have known -- many `are' your transgressions, And mighty your sins, Adversaries of the righteous, taking ransoms, And the needy in the gate ye turned aside.
• Amos 6:2-6 : 2 Pass ye over `to' Calneh and see, And go thence `to' Hamath the great, And go down `to' Gath of the Philistines, Are `they' better than these kingdoms? Greater `is' their border than your border? 3 Who are putting away the day of evil, And ye bring nigh the seat of violence, 4 Who are lying down on beds of ivory, And are spread out on their couches, And are eating lambs from the flock, And calves from the midst of the stall, 5 Who are taking part according to the psaltery, Like David they invented for themselves instruments of music; 6 Who are drinking with bowls of wine, And `with' chief perfumes anoint `themselves', And have not been pained for the breach of Joseph.
• Amos 6:12 : 12 Do horses run on a rock? Doth one plough `it' with oxen? For ye have turned to gall judgment, And the fruit of righteousness to wormwood.
• Amos 8:4-7 : 4 Hear this, ye who are swallowing up the needy, To cause to cease the poor of the land, 5 Saying, When doth the new moon pass, And we sell ground corn? And the sabbath, and we open out pure corn? To make little the ephah, And to make great the shekel, And to use perversely balances of deceit. 6 To purchase with money the poor, And the needy for a pair of sandals, Yea, the refuse of the pure corn we sell. 7 Sworn hath Jehovah by the excellency of Jacob: `I forget not for ever any of their works.
• Mic 2:1-3 : 1 Wo `to' those devising iniquity, And working evil on their beds, In the light of the morning they do it, For their hand is -- to God. 2 And they have desired fields, And they have taken violently, And houses, and they have taken away, And have oppressed a man and his house, Even a man and his inheritance. 3 Therefore, thus said Jehovah: Lo, I am devising against this family evil, From which ye do not remove your necks, Nor walk loftily, for a time of evil it `is'.
• Mic 2:9 : 9 The women of My people ye cast out from its delightful house, From its sucklings ye take away My honour to the age.
• Mic 3:1-4 : 1 And I say, `Hear, I pray you, heads of Jacob, And ye judges of the house of Israel, Is it not for you to know the judgment? 2 Ye who are hating good, and loving evil, Taking violently their skin from off them, And their flesh from off their bones, 3 And who have eaten the flesh of My people, And their skin from off them have stript, And their bones they have broken, And they have spread `them' out as in a pot, And as flesh in the midst of a caldron. 4 Then do they cry unto Jehovah, And He doth not answer them, And hideth His face from them at that time, As they have made evil their doings.
• Mic 3:9-9 : 9 Hear this, I pray you, heads of the house of Jacob, And ye judges of the house of Israel, Who are making judgment abominable, And all uprightness do pervert. 10 Building up Zion with blood, And Jerusalem with iniquity. 11 Her heads for a bribe do judge, And her priests for hire do teach, And her prophets for silver divine, And on Jehovah they lean, saying, `Is not Jehovah in our midst? Evil doth not come in upon us.' 12 Therefore, for your sake, Zion is ploughed a field, and Jerusalem is heaps, And the mount of the house `is' for high places of a forest!
• Mic 6:10-13 : 10 Are there yet `in' the house of the wicked Treasures of wickedness, And the abhorred scanty ephah? 11 Do I reckon `it' pure with balances of wickedness? And with a bag of deceitful stones? 12 Whose rich ones have been full of violence, And its inhabitants have spoken falsehood, And their tongue `is' deceitful in their mouth. 13 And I also, I have begun to smite thee, To make desolate, because of thy sins.
• Hab 1:2-3 : 2 Till when, O Jehovah, have I cried, And Thou dost not hear? I cry unto Thee -- `Violence,' and Thou dost not save. 3 Why dost Thou shew me iniquity, And perversity dost cause to behold? And spoiling and violence `are' before me, And there is strife, and contention doth lift `itself' up,
• Hab 1:12-13 : 12 Art not Thou of old, O Jehovah, my God, my Holy One? We do not die, O Jehovah, For judgment Thou hast appointed it, And, O Rock, for reproof Thou hast founded it. 13 Purer of eyes than to behold evil, To look on perverseness Thou art not able, Why dost Thou behold the treacherous? Thou keepest silent when the wicked Doth swallow the more righteous than he,
• Zech 7:9-9 : 9 `Thus spake Jehovah of Hosts, saying: True judgment judge ye, And kindness and mercy do one with another. 10 And widow, and fatherless, Sojourner, and poor, ye do not oppress, And the calamity of one another ye do not devise in your heart. 11 And they refuse to attend, And they give a refractory shoulder, And their ears have made heavy against hearing. 12 And their heart they have made adamant, Against hearing the law, and the words, That Jehovah of Hosts sent by His Spirit, By the hand of the former prophets, And their is great wrath from Jehovah of Hosts. 13 And it cometh to pass, as He called, And they have not hearkened, So do they call, and I do not hearken, Said Jehovah of Hosts.
• Zech 8:6 : 6 Thus said Jehovah of Hosts: Surely it is wonderful in the eyes of the remnant of this people in those days, Also in Mine eyes it is wonderful, An affirmation of Jehovah of Hosts.
• Mal 3:5 : 5 And I have drawn near to you for judgment, And I have been a witness, Making haste against sorcerers, And against adulterers, And against swearers to a falsehood, And against oppressors of the hire of an hireling, Of a widow, and of a fatherless one, And those turning aside a sojourner, And who fear Me not, said Jehovah of Hosts.
• Matt 13:41-42 : 41 the Son of Man shall send forth his messengers, and they shall gather up out of his kingdom all the stumbling-blocks, and those doing the unlawlessness, 42 and shall cast them to the furnace of the fire; there shall be the weeping and the gnashing of the teeth.
• Luke 1:32 : 32 he shall be great, and Son of the Highest he shall be called, and the Lord God shall give him the throne of David his father,
• Luke 1:35 : 35 And the messenger answering said to her, `The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee, therefore also the holy-begotten thing shall be called Son of God;
• Luke 1:76 : 76 And thou, child, Prophet of the Highest Shalt thou be called; For thou shalt go before the face of the Lord, To prepare His ways.
• Acts 4:27-28 : 27 for gathered together of a truth against Thy holy child Jesus, whom Thou didst anoint, were both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with nations and peoples of Israel, 28 to do whatever Thy hand and Thy counsel did determine before to come to pass.
• Acts 12:7-9 : 7 and lo, a messenger of the Lord stood by, and a light shone in the buildings, and having smitten Peter on the side, he raised him up, saying, `Rise in haste,' and his chains fell from off `his' hands. 8 The messenger also said to him, `Gird thyself, and bind on thy sandals;' and he did so; and he saith to him, `Put thy garment round and be following me;' 9 and having gone forth, he was following him, and he knew not that it is true that which is done through the messenger, and was thinking he saw a vision, 10 and having passed through a first ward, and a second, they came unto the iron gate that is leading to the city, which of its own accord did open to them, and having gone forth, they went on through one street, and immediately the messenger departed from him.
• Acts 12:23 : 23 and presently there smote him a messenger of the Lord, because he did not give the glory to God, and having been eaten of worms, he expired.
• Rom 11:33 : 33 O depth of riches, and wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable His judgments, and untraceable His ways!
• Jas 2:13 : 13 for the judgment without kindness `is' to him not having done kindness, and exult doth kindness over judgment.
• Jas 5:2-7 : 2 your riches have rotted, and your garments have become moth-eaten; 3 your gold and silver have rotted, and the rust of them for a testimony shall be to you, and shall eat your flesh as fire. Ye made treasure in the last days! 4 lo, the reward of the workmen, of those who in-gathered your fields, which hath been fraudulently kept back by you -- doth cry out, and the exclamations of those who did reap into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth have entered; 5 ye did live in luxury upon the earth, and were wanton; ye did nourish your hearts, as in a day of slaughter; 6 ye did condemn -- ye did murder the righteous one, he doth not resist you. 7 Be patient, then, brethren, till the presence of the Lord; lo, the husbandman doth expect the precious fruit of the earth, being patient for it, till he may receive rain -- early and latter;
• 1 Pet 4:12 : 12 Beloved, think it not strange at the fiery suffering among you that is coming to try you, as if a strange thing were happening to you,
• 1 John 3:13 : 13 Do not wonder, my brethren, if the world doth hate you;
• Rev 17:6-7 : 6 And I saw the woman drunken from the blood of the saints, and from the blood of the witnesses of Jesus, and I did wonder -- having seen her -- with great wonder; 7 and the messenger said to me, `Wherefore didst thou wonder? I -- I will tell thee the secret of the woman and of the beast that `is' carrying her, which hath the seven heads and the ten horns.