The Uselessness of Selfish Toil

Then I returned and considered all the (A)oppression that is done under the sun:

And look! The tears of the oppressed,
But they have no comforter—
[a]On the side of their oppressors there is power,
But they have no comforter.
(B)Therefore I praised the dead who were already dead,
More than the living who are still alive.
(C)Yet, better than both is he who has never existed,
Who has not seen the evil work that is done under the sun.

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Footnotes

  1. Ecclesiastes 4:1 Lit. At the hand

Then I returned and saw all the oppressions that are done under the sun: and, behold, the tears of such as were oppressed, and they had no comforter; and on the side of their oppressors there was power; but they had no comforter. Wherefore I praised the dead that have been long dead more than the living that are yet alive; yea, [a]better than them both did I esteem him that hath not yet been, who hath not seen the evil work that is done under the sun.

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Footnotes

  1. Ecclesiastes 4:3 Or, better than they both is he that etc.