Ecclesiastes 4:1-3
Expanded Bible
Is It Better to Be Dead?
4 Again I saw all the people who were ·mistreated [oppressed] ·here on earth [L under the sun; 1:3].
I saw ·their tears [L the tears of the oppressed]
and that they had no one to comfort them.
·Cruel people had [Oppressors have] all the power,
and there was no one to comfort those they hurt.
2 I ·decided that the dead
are better off than the living [L praised the dead who were already dead more than the living who are still alive].
3 But those who have never ·been born [existed; L been]
are better off still;
they have not seen the evil
that is done ·here on earth [L under the sun; 1:3].
Ecclesiastes 4:1-3
New American Standard Bible
The Evils of Oppression
4 Then I looked again at all the acts of (A)oppression which were being done under the sun. And behold, I saw the tears of the oppressed and that they had (B)no one to comfort them; and power was on the side of their oppressors, but they had no one to comfort them. 2 So (C)I congratulated the dead who are already dead, more than the living who are still living. 3 But (D)better off than both of them is the one who has never existed, who has never seen the evil activity that is done under the sun.
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