Ecclesiastes 4:1-3
Lexham English Bible
The Existence of Oppression in the World Makes Human Existence Miserable
4 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]
2 So I deemed the dead who have already died
more fortunate than the living who are still alive.
3 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.
Footnotes
- 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”
Ecclesiastes 4:1-3
International Standard Version
On the Abuse of Authority
4 Next I turned to consider all kinds of oppression that exists on earth.
Look at the tears of the oppressed—
there is no one to comfort them.
Power is on the side of their oppressors;
so they have no comforters.
2 So I commended the dead who had already died as being happier than the living who are still alive. 3 Better than both of them is someone who has not yet been born,[a] because he hasn’t experienced evil on earth.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Ecclesiastes 4:3 The Heb. lacks born
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