Ecclesiastes 4:2

So my praise was for the dead who have gone to their death, more than for the living who still have life.

Bible in Basic English

In The King James Version

Wherefore I praised the dead which are already dead more than the living which are yet alive.

In Context

1And 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.

3Yes, 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.

Read all of Ecclesiastes 4

Cross References

Job 3:11Why did death not take me when I came out of my mother's body, why did I not, when I came out, give up my last breath?

Job 3:21To those whose desire is for death, but it comes not; who are searching for it more than for secret wealth;

Ecclesiastes 2:17So I was hating life, because everything under the sun was evil to me: all is to no purpose and desire for wind.

Ecclesiastes 9:4For him who is joined to all the living there is hope; a living dog is better than a dead lion.

Matthew Henry on Ecclesiastes 4:2-4

The Prevalence of Oppression. 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. 2 Wherefore I praised the dead which are already dead more than the living which are yet alive. 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. Solomon had a large soul ( 1 Kings… Read the whole commentary →

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