American Standard Version
Ecclesiastes 4:3
3yea, 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.
Ecclesiastes 4:3 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)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.
- New International Version (NIV)But better than both is the one who has never been born, who has not seen the evil that is done under the sun.
- English Standard Version (ESV)But better than both is he who has not yet been and has not seen the evil deeds that are done under the sun.
- New King James Version (NKJV)Yet, better than both is he who has never existed, Who has not seen the evil work that is done under the sun.
Context of Ecclesiastes 4:3
1Then I returned and saw 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. 2Wherefore I praised the dead that have been long dead more than the living that are yet alive; 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. 4Then I saw all labor and every skilful work, that for this a man is envied of his neighbor. This also is vanity and a striving after wind. 5The fool foldeth his hands together, and eateth his own flesh.
Read all of Ecclesiastes 4Ecclesiastes 4:3 word by word
וְטוֹב֙ מִשְּׁנֵיהֶ֔ם אֵ֥ת אֲשֶׁר־עֲדֶ֖ן לֹ֣א הָיָ֑ה אֲשֶׁ֤ר לֹֽא־רָאָה֙ אֶת־הַמַּעֲשֶׂ֣ה הָרָ֔ע אֲשֶׁ֥ר נַעֲשָׂ֖ה תַּ֥חַת הַשָּֽׁמֶשׁ׃Read the interlinear
Cross-references for Ecclesiastes 4:3
- Ecclesiastes 6:3If a man beget a hundred children, and live many years, so that the days of his years are many, but his soul be not filled with good, and moreover he have no burial; I say, that an untimely birth is better than he:
- Job 3:10Because it shut not up the doors of mymother’swomb, Nor hid trouble from mine eyes.
- Job 10:18Wherefore then hast thou brought me forth out of the womb? I had given up the ghost, and no eye had seen me.
- Jeremiah 20:17because he slew me not from the womb; and so my mother would have been my grave, and her womb always great.
- Matthew 24:19But woe unto them that are with child and to them that give suck in those days!
- Luke 23:29For behold, the days are coming, in which they shall say, Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bare, and the breasts that never gave suck.
- Ecclesiastes 1:14I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and a striving after wind.
- Ecclesiastes 2:17So I hated life, because the work that is wrought under the sun was grievous unto me; for all is vanity and a striving after wind.
- Psalms 55:6And I said, Oh that I had wings like a dove! Then would I fly away, and be at rest.
- Jeremiah 9:2Oh that I had in the wilderness a lodging-place of wayfaring men; that I might leave my people, and go from them! for they are all adulterers, an assembly of treacherous men.
Commentaries on Ecclesiastes 4:3
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 3Which hath not yet been - Better never to have been born into the world, than to have seen and suffered so many miseries.Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 1-17This section discusses various topics, such as justice, humans and animals, oppression, moderation, companionship, politics, and worship.Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 33. not seen--nor experienced.Read the comment
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Ecclesiastes 4
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Original Douay–Rheims Annotations
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
American Standard Version — 1901 — Public Domain
Commentaries