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 “Though a sinner do evil an hundred times, and live long, yet I know,” etc. That an antecedent may begin with asher is admissible, Lev 4:22; Deu 18:22; but in the case lying before us, still less acceptable than at Ecc 8:11. For, in the first place, this asher of the antecedent cannot mean “although,” but only “considering that;” and in places such as Ecc 6:3, where this “considering that” may be exchanged with “although,” there follows not the part., but the fut. natural to the concessive clause; then, in the second place, by this antecedent rendering of asher a closer connection of Ecc 8:12 and Ecc 8:12 is indeed gained, but the mediation of Ecc 8:12 and Ecc 8:11 is lost; in the third place, גם כי, in the meaning “however” (gam, ὃμως, with affirmative ki), is not found; not asher, but just this ki gam, signifies, in the passage before us, as at Ecc 4:14, εἰ καί, although, - only a somewhat otherwise applied gam ki, Ewald, §362b, as כי על־כן is a somewhat otherwise applied על־כן כי. Rightly, Hitzig: “In Ecc 8:12, Ecc 8:11 is again resumed, and it is explained how tardy justice has such a consequence.” The sinner is thereby encouraged in sinning, because he does evil, and always again evil, and yet enjoys himself in all the pleasures of long life. Regarding חטא for חטא, vid., above, p. 641, 1. מאת is = פעמים מאה, an hundred times, as אחת, Job 40:5, is = אחת פעם; Hengst. and others, inexactly: an hundredfold, which would have required the word מאתים; and falsely, Ginsburg, with the Targ.: an hundred years, which would have required מאה, scil. שׁנה, Gen 17:17. This centies (Jerome) is, like מאה, scil. בנים, Ecc 6:3, a round number for a great many, as at Pro 17:10, and frequently in the Talm. and Midrash, e.g., Wajikra rabba, c. 27: “an hundred deeply-breathed sighs (מאה פעיות) the mother gave forth.” The meaning of לו וּמעריך לו is in general clear: he becomes therein old. Jerome, improbable: et per patientiam sustentatur, as Mendelssohn: he experiences forbearance, for they supply 'pow (Isa 48:9), and make God the subject. לּו is in any case the so-called ''dat. ethic.''; and the only question is, whether the doing of evil has to be taken from רע עשׂה, as obj. to ומא: he practises it to him long, or whether, which is more probable, ימים is