What Does Ecclesiastes 3:16 Mean in the King James?
And moreover I saw under the sun the place of judgment, that wickedness was there; and the place of righteousness, that iniquity was there.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The same wrongdoing occupies both places, even the one named for alignment.
THE MEANING
This verse meets you wherever you expect judgment and alignment to be found: wrongdoing is there too. A place named for justice does not guarantee that justice is what fills it.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A court or institution associated with righteousness must therefore be just in its judgments.
THE ROOT
צֶדֶק
tsedeq
GROWS FROM
צדק
ṣ-d-q
Alignment; rightness.
“righteousness” in this verse is tsedeq. This word names alignment, not merely a badge attached to a place. Its word family also describes an aligned person and acts of rightness, revealing the gap between a place designated for justice and what actually fills it.
ALSO GROWS
tsaddiq: A just or aligned person.
צַדִּיק
The same root describes a person embodying the alignment this place is meant to hold.
tsedaqah: Justice, righteousness, right conduct.
צְדָקָה
The root spans the quality of alignment and its expression in action.
רֶשַׁע
reshaʿ
GROWS FROM
רשע
r-sh-ʿ
Wrongdoing; guilt or wickedness.
“wickedness / iniquity” in this verse is reshaʿ. English uses “wickedness” at the first place and “iniquity” at the second, but Hebrew repeats the same noun, reshaʿ. The same wrongdoing occupies both the place of judgment and the place of alignment.
ALSO GROWS
rashaʿ: A wicked person; one guilty of wrongdoing.
רָשָׁע
The word family names both the wrong found there and the kind of person associated with it.
rashaʿ: To act wickedly or be guilty.
רָשַׁע
The noun names what is present; the related verb names the conduct that fills the place.
THE PATTERN
A place entrusted with justice can carry the same wrongdoing it is meant to judge.
For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for judgment, but behold oppression; for righteousness, but behold a cry.Ye who turn judgment to wormwood, and leave off righteousness in the earth,Are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts?THE THREAD
That which is altogether just shalt thou follow, that thou mayest live, and inherit the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.The Hebrew repeats tsedeq, the word for alignment, and pairs it with pursuing: alignment is something followed, not guaranteed by a place or title. Ecclesiastes shows why that distinction matters, the place named for it can still contain wrongdoing.
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