Ecclesiastes 4:3

Better also than both these is he who has not yet been, who has not seen all the evil work that is done under the sun.

Brenton Septuagint

In The King James Version

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.

In Context

2and I praised all the dead that had already died more than the living, as many as are alive until now.

4And I saw all labour, and all the diligent work, that this is a man's envy from his neighbour. This is also vanity and waywardness of spirit.

Read all of Ecclesiastes 4

Cross References

Job 3:16or I should have been as an untimely birth proceeding from his mother's womb, or as infants who never saw light.

Job 10:18Why then didst thou bring me out of the womb? and why did I not die, and no eye see me,

Ecclesiastes 1:14I beheld all the works that were wrought under the sun; and, behold, all were vanity and waywardness of spirit.

Ecclesiastes 6:3If a man beget a hundred children, and live many years, yea, however abundant the days of his years shall be, yet if his soul shall not be satisfied with good, and also he have no burial; I said, An untimely birth is better than he.

Jeremiah 9:2And they have bent their tongue like a bow: falsehood and not faithfulness has prevailed upon the earth; for they have gone on from evil to evil, and have not known me, saith the Lord.

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 →

This Verse In Other Editions

Study Ecclesiastes 4:3