Ecclesiastes 4:1
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.
Majority Standard Bible
In The King James Version
In Context
2So I admired the dead, who had already died, above the living, who are still alive.
Cross References
Exodus 1:16“When you help the Hebrew women give birth, observe them on the birthstools. If the child is a son, kill him; but if it is a daughter, let her live.”
Exodus 2:23After a long time, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned and cried out under their burden of slavery, and their cry for deliverance from bondage ascended to God.
Exodus 5:18Now get to work. You will be given no straw, yet you must deliver the full quota of bricks.”
Deuteronomy 28:48you will serve your enemies the LORD will send against you in famine, thirst, nakedness, and destitution. He will place an iron yoke on your neck until He has destroyed you.
Judges 10:7So the anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and He sold them into the hands of the Philistines and Ammonites,
Job 6:29Reconsider; do not be unjust. Reconsider, for my righteousness is at stake.
Matthew Henry on Ecclesiastes 4:1
Solomon, having shown the vanity of this world in the temptation which those in power feel to oppress and trample upon their subjects, here further shows, I. The temptation which the oppressed feel to discontent and impatience, ver. 1-3 . II. The temptation which those that love their case feel to take their case and neglect business, for fear of being envied, ver. 4-6 . III. The folly of hoarding up abundance of worldly wealth, ver. 7, 8 . IV. A remedy against that folly, in being made sensible of the benefit of… Read the whole commentary →