Discovery BoxEcclesiastes 8:2-4 
Context8:2 Obey the king’s command, 1
because you took 2 an oath before God 3 to be loyal to him. 4
8:3 Do not rush out of the king’s presence in haste – do not delay when the matter is unpleasant, 5
for he can do whatever he pleases.
8:4 Surely the king’s authority 6 is absolute; 7
no one can say 8 to him, “What are you doing?”
1 tc The Leningrad Codex (the basis of BHS) reads אֲנִי (’ani, 1st person common singular independent personal pronoun): “I obey the king’s command.” Other medieval Hebrew
2 tn The phrase “you took” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for smoothness.
3 tn The genitive-construct שְׁבוּעַת אֱלֹהִים (shÿvu’at ’elohim, “an oath of God”) functions as a genitive of location (“an oath before God”) or an adjectival genitive of attribute (“a supreme oath”).
4 tn The words “to be loyal to him” do not appear in the Hebrew text, but are supplied in the translation for clarification.
5 tn Or “do not stand up for a bad cause.”
6 tn Heb “word.”
7 tn Heb “supreme.”
8 tn Heb “Who can say…?”
