The Divine Violence in the Book of Qoheleth To speak of the relationship between God and violence within Scripture is always difficult. In fact, our notion of “violence” is quite different from that entertained by biblical man (1). For this reason, the exegete has to adopt a double perspective: both the historical context of the texts that he or she is examining and also that in which he or she is living. Then, at the theological level, we must not forget that the biblical authors are writing in a context in which faith in God is something to be taken for granted, even when this faith creates problems for the human person. This is no longer the case for modern humanity which can quite easily distance itself from the very idea of God. 1. The Tears of the Oppressed (Qoh 4,1) These observations will serve as introduction to our subject: we ask if it is possible to speak of divine violence in connection with the book of Qoheleth. Qoh 4,1 is a useful starting point: in fact, it is a passage which is not infrequently given as an example of Qoheleth’s pessimism (2): “Again (3) I saw all the oppressions that are practised under the sun. And behold, the tears of the oppressed, and they had no one to comfort them! On the side (4) of their oppressors there was power, and there was no one to comfort them” (Qoh 4,1). (1) In this connection, cf. the Acts of the XXXIX Settimana Biblica Italiana, L. MAZZINGHI (ed.), La violenza nella Bibbia, RicStoBib 20 (2008), with numerous articles and an abundant bibliography. (2) Cf., for example, F. CRÜSEMANN, “Die unveränderbare Welt: Über- legungen zur ‘Krisis der Weisheit’ beim Prediger (Kohelet)”, W. SCHOTTROFF – W. STEGEMANN (eds.), Der Gott der kleinen Leute. Sozialgeschichltliche Bibelauslegungen (21979) I, 80-104. For a detailed analysis of this passage with a further bibliography, cf. F. BIANCHI, “‘Essi non hanno chi li consoli’ (Qo 4,1)”, RivBibIt 40 (1992) 299-307; and also A. PASSARO, “Non c’è chi li consoli. La violenza nei libri sapienziali”, La violenza nella Bibbia, 95-110, centered precisely on the theme of violence. Cf. also J.-J. LAVOIE, “De l’inconvénient d’être né. Etude de Qohélet 4,1-3”, SR 24 (1995) 297-308. (3) The verb bwv is to be understood here in an adverbial sense. (4) M. FOX, A Time to Tear Down and a Time to Build Up. A Rereading of Ecclesiastes (Grand Rapids, MI 1999) 218, reads dyb instead of dym and translates: