Ecclesiastes 4:1
So I returned, and considered 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.
Ecclesiastes 4:1 in other translations
| BSB | Again I looked, and I considered all the oppression taking place under the sun. I saw the tears of the oppressed, and they had no comforter; the power lay in the hands of their oppressors, and there was no comforter. |
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| WEB | Then I returned and saw all the oppressions that are done under the sun: and behold, the tears of those who were oppressed, and they had no comforter; and on the side of their oppressors there was power; but they had no comforter. |
| ASV | 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. |
| YLT | And I have turned, and I see all the oppressions that are done under the sun, and lo, the tear of the oppressed, and they have no comforter; and at the hand of their oppressors is power, and they have no comforter. |
| DARBY | And I returned and saw all the oppressions that are done under the sun: and behold, the tears of the oppressed, and they had no comforter; and on the side of their oppressors was power, and they had no comforter. |
| BBE | And again I saw all the cruel things which are done under the sun; there was the weeping of those who have evil done to them, and they had no comforter: and from the hands of the evil-doers there went out power, but they had no comforter. |
| Webster | So I returned, and considered 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. |
What does Ecclesiastes 4:1 mean?
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
Adam Clarke's Commentary
Introduction
The vanity of life is increased by oppression, Ecc 4:1-3; by envy, Ecc 4:4; by idleness, Ecc 4:5. The misery of a solitary life, and the advantages of society, Ecc 4:6-12. A poor and wise child; better than an old and foolish king, Ecc 4:13. The uncertainty of popular favor, Ecc 4:14-16. Verse 1 Considered all the oppressions - עשקים ashukim signifies any kind of injury which a man can receive in his person, his property, or his good fame. On the side of their oppressors there was power - And, therefore, neither protection nor comfort for the oppressed.Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain
Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Ecclesiastes 4:1-3
Matthew Henry, 1706 · public domain
Ecclesiastes 4:1 in the original Hebrew
Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.
Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).
Cross references for Ecclesiastes 4:1
- Ecclesiastes 3:16
And moreover I saw under the sun the place of judgment, that wickedness was there; and the place of righteousness, that iniquity was there.
- Ecclesiastes 5:8
If thou seest the oppression of the poor, and violent perverting of judgment and justice in a province, marvel not at the matter: for he that is higher than the highest regardeth; and there be higher than they.
- Isaiah 5:7
For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for judgment, but behold oppression; for righteousness, but behold a cry.
- 2 Timothy 4:16-17
At my first answer no man stood with me, but all men forsook me: I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge. Notwithstanding the Lord stood with me, and strengthened me; that by me the preaching might be fully known, and that all the Gentiles might hear: and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion.
- Isaiah 51:23
But I will put it into the hand of them that afflict thee; which have said to thy soul, Bow down, that we may go over: and thou hast laid thy body as the ground, and as the street, to them that went over.
- Lamentations 1:9
Her filthiness is in her skirts; she remembereth not her last end; therefore she came down wonderfully: she had no comforter. O Lord, behold my affliction: for the enemy hath magnified himself.
- Job 35:9
By reason of the multitude of oppressions they make the oppressed to cry: they cry out by reason of the arm of the mighty.
- Psalms 42:3
My tears have been my meat day and night, while they continually say unto me, Where is thy God?
- Isaiah 59:13-15
In transgressing and lying against the Lord, and departing away from our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood. And judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter. Yea, truth faileth; and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey: and the Lord saw it, and it displeased him that there was no judgment.
- Psalms 42:9
I will say unto God my rock, Why hast thou forgotten me? why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?
- Malachi 3:5
And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me, saith the Lord of hosts.
- Lamentations 1:2
She weepeth sore in the night, and her tears are on her cheeks: among all her lovers she hath none to comfort her: all her friends have dealt treacherously with her, they are become her enemies.
Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).
Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
4 by envy;
5 by idleness;
7 by covetousness;
9 by solitariness;
13 by wilfulness.
I returned.
Job 6:29; Mal 3:18
and considered.
3:16; 5:8; 7:7; Ex 1:13,14,16,22; 2:23,24; 5:16-19; De 28:33,48
Jud 4:3; 10:7,8; Ne 5:1-5; Job 24:7-12; Ps 10:9,10; Pr 28:3,15,16
Isa 5:7; 51:23; 59:7,13-15; Mal 3:5
the tears.
Ps 42:3,9; 80:5; 102:8,9; Mal 2:13; Jas 5:4
they had.
Job 16:4; 19:21,22; Ps 69:20; 142:4; Pr 19:7; La 1:2,9; Mt 26:56
2Ti 4:16,17
side. Heb. hand.
Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain
Context
- Ecclesiastes 4:1
So I returned, and considered 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.
- Ecclesiastes 4:2
Wherefore I praised the dead which are already dead more than the living which are yet alive.
Ecclesiastes 4:1 in other languages
| Spanish Reina-Valera 1909 | Y TORNÉME yo, y vi todas las violencias que se hacen debajo del sol: y he aquí las lágrimas de los oprimidos, y sin tener quien los consuele; y la fuerza estaba en la mano de sus opresores, y para ellos no había consolador. |
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| French Bible J.N. Darby 1885 | Et je me suis tourné, et j’ai regardé toutes les oppressions qui se font sous le soleil; et voici les larmes des opprimés, et il n’y a point pour eux de consolateur! Et la force est dans la main de leurs oppresseurs, et il n’y a point pour eux de consolateur! |
| German Elberfelder 1871 | Und ich wandte mich und sah alle die Bedrückungen, welche unter der Sonne geschehen: und siehe, da waren Tränen der Bedrückten, und sie hatten keinen Tröster; und von der Hand ihrer Bedrücker ging Gewalttat aus, und sie hatten keinen Tröster. |
| Latin Clementine Vulgate | Verti me ad alia, et vidi calumnias quæ sub sole geruntur, et lacrimas innocentium, et neminem consolatorem, nec posse resistere eorum violentiæ, cunctorum auxilio destitutos, |