Ecclesiastes 4:3

and, as better than both, him who had not yet come into being,—who had not seen the vexatious work, which was done under the sun.

The Emphasised Bible by J. B. Rotherham

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

2So, I, pronounced happy the dead, who were, already, dead,—more than the living, who were living, still;

4Then saw, I, all the toil and all the skill of the work, that, for this, a man was envied of his neighbour,—even this, was vanity, and a feeding on wind.

Read all of Ecclesiastes 4

Cross References

Job 3:16Or that, like an untimely birth hidden away, I had not come into being, like infants that never saw light:

Job 10:18Wherefore then, from the womb, didst thou bring me forth? I might have breathed my last, and, no eye, have seen me.

Ecclesiastes 1:14I saw all the works which were done under the sun,—and lo! all, was vanity, and a feeding on wind.

Ecclesiastes 6:3Though a man should beget a hundred children, and live, many years, so that many should be the days of his years but, his own soul, should not be satisfied with the good, and he should not even have, a burial, I said, Better than he, is an untimely birth!

Jeremiah 9:2Oh that I had in the wilderness, a wayfarers’ lodge, That I might leave my people, and go from them,—For they all, are Adulterers, An assemblage of traitors;

Matthew 24:19But alas! for the women with child, and for them that are giving suck, in those days;

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