For the righteous know that if
they sin, they will be considered as dead in the world to come. Therefore, they
guard their ways and do not sin and if they sin, they return in repentance. But
the sinners do not know anything good because they do not make their deeds good
in their lifetime and they do not know anything good in the world to come and
they do not have a good reward after their death for their memory is forgotten
among the righteous. (Céline Mangan, John F. Healey, and Peter S. Knobel, Targum
of Job and The Targum of Proverbs and The Targum of Qohelet, [The Aramaic
Bible 15; Collegeville, Minn.: The Liturgical Press, 1991], Logos Bible Software
edition)
In note 7 following “righteous,” we read that
MT hḥym “the living” is understood as the “righteous.” “The word
‘living’ refers to the righteous who are called living even after their death.”
Notice also how the “dead” are not physically dead
but “sinners” (i.e., spiritually dead). This was not interpreted as a “proof-text”
for soul sleep or soul death by the author(s) of this Targum.
The Aramaic reads:
ארום צדיקיא
ידעין דאין יחובון עתידין למיהויהון חשיבין כמיתיא לעלמא דאתי בגין די נטרין אורחיהון
ולא חייבין ואין תייבין תייבין בתיובתא וחייביא ליתיהון ידעון מידעם טב על דלא אוטיבו
עובדיהון בחייהון ולית ידעין מדעם טב לעלמא דאתי ולית להום אגר טב בתר מותיהון ארום
איתנשי דוכרנהון מביני צדיקיא׃
An alternative translation would be:
Therefore the righteous know that
they are not destined to perish; they are reckoned as alive for the world to
come, because their ways endure and they are not held (liable) here. There is
no return (no chance to repair) for those who are bound, and the guilty do not
know any good — for what their hands did did not benefit them in their
lifetime, and they will not know of any good in the world to come, nor will
they have a share of good after their death. Therefore those who remember them
are the understanding — the righteous understand.
