Ecclesiastes 8
Ecclesiastes 8 is the eighth chapter of the Book of Ecclesiastes in the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. The book contains philosophical speeches by a character called '(the) Qoheleth' (="the Teacher"), composed probably between 5th to 2nd century BCE. Peshitta, Targum, and Talmud attribute the authorship of the book to King Solomon. This chapter concerns human and divine authority with the advice that fear God is the wisest course. Text. The original text was written in Hebrew. This chapter is divided into 17 verses. Textual witnesses. Some early manuscripts containing the text  of this chapter in Hebrew are of the Masoretic Text, which includes Codex Leningradensis (1008). There is also a translation into Koine Greek known as the Septuagint, made in the last few centuries BCE. Extant ancient manuscripts of the Septuagint version include Codex Vaticanus (B; formula_1; 4th century), Codex Sinaiticus (S; BHK: formula_1; 4th century), and Codex Alexandrinus (A; formula_1; 5th century). The Greek text is probably derived from the work of Aquila of Sinope or his followers. Structure. New King James Version grouped the chapter: Royal authority (8:1–9). Verse 1 closes the theme from chapter 7. Qoheleth then uses  the previous observation of human authority to form a basis for understanding the divine authority. Fear God is the wisest course (8:10–17). Echoing the idea in Ecclesiastes 3:16–17, Qoheleth affirms that it is still 'safer to stand in fear before God', even as the righteous are sometimes regarded as wicked and the punishment of the wicked seems lacking. Verse 15. "To eat, drink, and be merry": refers to Ecclesiastes 2:23-24; 3:13; 5:18-20; 9:7, as the remedy that Qoheleth offers, that is, to accept God's gift and place oneself in his hands.