Ecclesiastes 4:3
Yea, better is he than both they, which hath not yet been, who hath not seen the evil work that is done under the sun.
Ecclesiastes 4:3 in other translations
| BSB | But better than both is he who has not yet existed, who has not seen the evil that is done under the sun. |
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| WEB | Yes, better than them both is him who has not yet been, who has not seen the evil work that is done under the sun. |
| ASV | yea, 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. |
| YLT | And better than both of them is he who hath not yet been, in that he hath not seen the evil work that hath been done under the sun. |
| DARBY | and more fortunate than both is he who hath not yet been, who hath not seen the evil work that is done under the sun. |
| BBE | Yes, happier than the dead or the living seemed he who has not ever been, who has not seen the evil which is done under the sun. |
| Webster | Yes, better is he than both they, who hath not yet been, who hath not seen the evil work that is done under the sun. |
What does Ecclesiastes 4:3 mean?
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain
Adam Clarke's Commentary
Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain
Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Ecclesiastes 4:1-3
Miseries from oppression. (Eccl. 4:1-3) troubles from envy. (Eccl. 4:4-6) The folly of covetousness. (Eccl. 4:7,8) The advantages of mutual assistance. (Eccl. 4:9-12) the changes of royalty. (Eccl. 4:13-16) Verses 1-3 It grieved Solomon to see might prevail against right. Wherever we turn, we see melancholy proofs of the wickedness and misery of mankind, who try to create trouble to themselves and to each other…
Ecclesiastes 4:3 in the original Hebrew
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Cross references for Ecclesiastes 4:3
- Luke 23:29
For, behold, the days are coming, in the which they shall say, Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bare, and the paps which never gave suck.
- Matthew 24:19
And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days!
- Ecclesiastes 6:3-5
If a man beget an hundred children, and live many years, so that the days of his years be many, and his soul be not filled with good, and also that he have no burial; I say, that an untimely birth is better than he. For he cometh in with vanity, and departeth in darkness, and his name shall be covered with darkness. Moreover he hath not seen the sun, nor known any thing: this hath more rest than the other.
- Job 10:18-19
Wherefore then hast thou brought me forth out of the womb? Oh that I had given up the ghost, and no eye had seen me! I should have been as though I had not been; I should have been carried from the womb to the grave.
- Jeremiah 9:2-3
Oh that I had in the wilderness a lodging place of wayfaring men; that I might leave my people, and go from them! for they be all adulterers, an assembly of treacherous men. And they bend their tongues like their bow for lies: but they are not valiant for the truth upon the earth; for they proceed from evil to evil, and they know not me, saith the Lord.
- Ecclesiastes 2:17
Therefore I hated life; because the work that is wrought under the sun is grievous unto me: for all is vanity and vexation of spirit.
- Job 3:22
Which rejoice exceedingly, and are glad, when they can find the grave?
- Psalms 55:6-11
And I said, Oh that I had wings like a dove! for then would I fly away, and be at rest. Lo, then would I wander far off, and remain in the wilderness. Selah. I would hasten my escape from the windy storm and tempest. Destroy, O Lord, and divide their tongues: for I have seen violence and strife in the city. …
- Jeremiah 20:17-18
Because he slew me not from the womb; or that my mother might have been my grave, and her womb to be always great with me. Wherefore came I forth out of the womb to see labour and sorrow, that my days should be consumed with shame?
- Job 3:10-16
Because it shut not up the doors of my mother’s womb, nor hid sorrow from mine eyes. Why died I not from the womb? why did I not give up the ghost when I came out of the belly? Why did the knees prevent me? or why the breasts that I should suck? For now should I have lain still and been quiet, I should have slept: then had I been at rest, …
- Ecclesiastes 1:14
I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit.
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Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Context
- Ecclesiastes 4:2
Wherefore I praised the dead which are already dead more than the living which are yet alive.
- Ecclesiastes 4:3
Yea, better is he than both they, which hath not yet been, who hath not seen the evil work that is done under the sun.
- Ecclesiastes 4:4
Again, I considered all travail, and every right work, that for this a man is envied of his neighbour. This is also vanity and vexation of spirit.
Ecclesiastes 4:3 in other languages
| Spanish Reina-Valera 1909 | Y tuve por mejor que unos y otros al que no ha sido aún, que no ha visto las malas obras que debajo del sol se hacen. |
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| French Bible J.N. Darby 1885 | et plus heureux encore que tous les deux celui qui n’a pas encore été, qui n’a pas vu le mauvais travail qui se fait sous le soleil. |
| German Elberfelder 1871 | und glücklicher als beide pries ich den, der noch nicht gewesen ist, der das böse Tun nicht gesehen hat, welches unter der Sonne geschieht. |
| Latin Clementine Vulgate | et feliciorem utroque judicavi qui necdum natus est, nec vidit mala quæ sub sole fiunt. |