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I looked again, and I saw all the acts of oppression being done under the sun. Just look at the tears of the oppressed, who have no one to comfort them! Their violent oppressors had the upper hand, and there was no one to comfort them.

So I congratulate the dead, who already have died, more than the living, who are still alive. But better than either of them is the one who has never existed, who has never seen the evil done under the sun.

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The Existence of Oppression in the World Makes Human Existence Miserable

I looked again, and I saw all the oppression that occurs under the sun.

I saw the tears of the oppressed—
    no one comforts them!
Those who oppress them are powerful—
    no one can comfort them![a]
So I deemed the dead who have already died
    more fortunate than the living who are still alive.
But better off than both of them is the one who has not yet been born
    and has not seen the evil deeds that are done under the sun.

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Footnotes

  1. Ecclesiastes 4:1 Literally “And look! The tears of the oppressed, and there is no comforting for them, and from the hand of oppressors of them was power, and there is no comforting for them”

Oppression, Toil, Friendlessness

Again I looked and saw all the oppression(A) that was taking place under the sun:

I saw the tears of the oppressed—
    and they have no comforter;
power was on the side of their oppressors—
    and they have no comforter.(B)
And I declared that the dead,(C)
    who had already died,
are happier than the living,
    who are still alive.(D)
But better than both
    is the one who has never been born,(E)
who has not seen the evil
    that is done under the sun.(F)

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