And moreover I saw under the sun the place of judgment,.... Courts of judicature, where judges sit, and, causes are brought before them, and are heard and tried; such as were the Jewish sanhedrim, of which the Midrash and Jarchi interpret it;[that] wickedness [was] there, wicked judges sat there, and wickedness was committed by them; instead of doing justice they perverted it; condemned the righteous, and acquitted the wicked; and oppressed the widow, fatherless, and stranger, whose cause, being just, they should have defended.
So the Targum,"in which lying judges condemn the innocent.''Well does the wise man say he saw this "under the sun", for there is nothing of this kind above it; nor approved of by him that is above it;and the place of righteousness, [that] iniquity [was] there; this signifies the same as before, only it is expressed in different words.