Paraphrase of Ecclesiastes · §8.1 · Gregory Thaumaturgus

Wisdom, the king's word, and the hour of death

Wisdom shines in the face; one must heed the king's word and avoid oaths, for no one can escape the hour of death.

When wisdom is tested in a person, it shines out even through the face, lighting up the one who possesses it (Ecclesiastes 8:1); just as shamelessness, the moment its owner is seen, proves the one in whom it has made its home worthy of hatred. One must pay very careful heed to the words of the king, and avoid an oath in every way, above all one made in the name of God (Ecclesiastes 8:2). Even so, one should keep watch over an evil word, but guard against all blasphemy toward the Master (Ecclesiastes 8:3). For when he inflicts anything, there will be no finding fault, nor any speaking against the decrees of the only Sovereign and King (Ecclesiastes 8:4). It is better and more profitable to hold fast to the holy commandments and to stand clear of evil words (Ecclesiastes 8:5). For a wise man knows and foresees the judgment that comes in its time, that it will be just.

For all the affairs of human life await the punishment that comes from above (Ecclesiastes 8:6); but the wicked man does not seem to understand well that, since great providence watches over him, nothing whatever will escape notice in time to come. For he does not know what is coming, and no one will be able to declare any of it as it deserves (Ecclesiastes 8:7); for no one will be so strong as to be able to hinder the angel who takes away his soul, nor could any means at all be found to set aside the hour of death. Rather, like a man caught in the middle of a battle, one sees on every side what cannot be escaped; and all a man's ungodliness perishes with him (Ecclesiastes 8:8).

Greek

Σοφία δὲ ἐν ἀνθρώπῳ ἐξεταζομένη, καὶ διὰ προσώπου φαίνεται φωτίζουσα τὸν κεκτημένον· ὥσπερ οὖν ἀναίδεια, μίσους εὐθὺς ὀφθέντα ἄξιον ἐκεῖνον ἐλέγχει, ᾧπερ ἐνῴκησε. Πάνυ δὲ χρὴ ἐπιμελῶς τοῖς τοῦ βασιλέως προσέχειν λόγοις, ὅρκον δὲ ἐκ παντὸς τρόπου φεύγειν, μάλιστα τὸν εἰς Θεοῦ ὄνομα γινόμενον. Ἐφίστασθαι δὲ ὅμως προσήκει λόγῳ πονηρῷ· ἀλλὰ φυλάσσεσθαι ἅπασαν τὴν εἰς τὸν Δεσπότην βλασφημίαν. Οὐ γὰρ δὴ ἐπάγοντός τι μέμφεσθαι ὑπάρξει, οὐδὲ ἀντιλέγειν τοῖς τοῦ μόνου δυνάστου καὶ βασιλέως δόγμασι. Βέλτιον δὲ, καὶ λυσιτελέστερον ἐμμένοντα ταῖς ἱεραῖς ἐντολαῖς, λόγων τῶν πονηρῶν ἐκτὸς καθεστάναι. Σοφὸς γὰρ ἀνὴρ ἐπίσταται καὶ προγινώσκει τὴν εἰς καιρὸν κρίσιν, ὅτι δικαία ἔσται. Πάντα γὰρ τὰ ἐν τῷ βίῳ τῶν ἀνθρώπων πράγματα περιμένει τὴν ἄνωθεν κόλασιν· πλὴν ὅ γε πονηρὸς, οὐ λίαν γινώσκειν ἔοικεν, ὅτι πολλῆς ἐπ᾽ αὐτῷ οὔσης προνοίας, οὐδὲν ὁτιοῦν εἰς τὸ μετέπειτα λήσεται. Οὐ γὰρ οἶδε τὰ ἐπιόντα· οὐδὲν γὰρ αὐτῶν κατ᾽ ἀξίαν τις ἀναγγεῖλαι δυνήσεται· ὅτι οὐχ οὕτως τις ἰσχυρὸς ὑπάρξει, ὡς τὸν ἀφαιρούμενον τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ ἄγγελον κωλῦσαι δύνασθαι, οὐδέ τις ὅλως μέθοδος εὑρεθείη ἂν τοῦ παραγράφασθαί πως τὸν καιρὸν τῆς τελευτῆς· ἀλλ᾽ ὥσπερ ἐν πολέμῳ μέσῳ ληφθέντα, ἄφυκτα πανταχόθεν ἔστιν ὁρᾷν, ἀσέβεια δὲ πᾶσα ἀνθρώπου συνεξόλλυται.

Report a mistake in this passage

About this text

Gregory Thaumaturgus retells the whole of Ecclesiastes in Solomon's voice: human affairs are empty, pleasure and wealth never satisfy, and the book ends with its charge to fear God and keep His commandments, for every person will be judged. A fresh English translation from the Greek.

Gregory Thaumaturgus (c. 213–c. 270) wrote this paraphrase of Ecclesiastes for the whole Church of God. He was a third-century Christian bishop, born in Neocaesarea in Pontus to a wealthy pagan family and originally named Theodore.

The work is a paraphrase, not a commentary, presenting the teaching of Ecclesiastes in Gregory's own Greek. Gregory speaks in his own voice when he says he is addressing the Church and has given these matters sufficient thought.

A reader will meet Solomon, King David, and Gregory himself. The argument is that all human affairs and pursuits are empty and useless, because people are defeated by temporal things and refuse to look above the stars with the noble eye of the soul. Human life wears away like winter torrents pouring into the boundless deep. What God has established remains fixed, but human words and deeds have no measure, and idle talk brings no profit. Nothing new ever happens; what seems new was already known to the ancients, and both past and present fade into oblivion. The paraphrase then follows Ecclesiastes to its end: Solomon tries wisdom, pleasure and great works and finds them empty, weighs wisdom against folly, tells how he once reasoned that the righteous and the wicked meet the same end and rejects it, and closes with the charge to fear God and keep His commandments, for every person will be judged. The work paraphrases Ecclesiastes, so readers should use the Septuagint book name and numbering, cited as Ecclesiastes (LXX).

English translated from the Greek of the MGR / Documenta Catholica Omnia transcription (TLG 2063.006, from PG 10), read from its page images. From Ecclesiastes 1:13 to the end, each passage was also checked against the Greek and Latin columns of the Opera omnia print (Paris, 1622). The older Ante-Nicene Fathers English was used only as a sense check for the opening section.

Printed text used

Translated from MGR / Documenta Catholica Omnia concordance (Greek · Whole work)
Translated from Greek of the opening section (Greek · Ecclesiastes 1:1-12)
Also checked Opera omnia, Greek and Latin (Paris: Sonnius, Morel and Cramoisy, 1622), page images (Greek and Latin · Ecclesiastes 1:13 to the end)

Where the prints differ

Section 5.1 (Ecclesiastes 5:8) — The transcription brackets οὐ as an editor's supplement; the 1622 print has it as text ('there is no need to wonder'), and the English follows the 1622 print.
Section 5.2 (Ecclesiastes 5:10) — The transcription's χόρος is read as κόρος ('fill, satiety') with the 1622 print.
Section 7.1 (Ecclesiastes 6:12) — The transcription's πλέοντι is read as πλέον τι ('anything more') with the 1622 print.
Section 10.2 (Ecclesiastes 10:9) — The transcription prints ἀλλὰ μή with the editor's conjecture μήν; the English follows μήν ('Moreover'), as the 1622 Latin does.
Section 12.2 (Ecclesiastes 12:8) — The transcription's ἂ is read as the relative ἃ ('what I said before'), as the 1622 Latin requires.
Chapters 6-12 — Small typing and accent errors in the transcription are corrected from the 1622 print.

We have not yet re-checked this work against its source. We made this study translation with AI help. No scholar has yet certified it as faithful and complete. Open Greek on any section to see the source text. It is not a critical edition.

Report a mistake