Ecclesiastes 4:3

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 looked again at all the acts of oppression which were being done under the sun. And behold I saw the tears of the oppressed and that they had no one to comfort them; and on the side of their oppressors was power, but they had no one to comfort them. 2So I congratulated the dead who are already dead more than the living who are still living. But better off than both of them is the one who has never existed, who has never seen the evil activity that is done under the sun. 4I have seen that every labor and every skill which is done is the result of rivalry between a man and his neighbor. This too is vanity and striving after wind. 5The fool folds his hands and consumes his own flesh.

Ecclesiastes 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

• betterטוֹבţôb · pleasantH2896
• thanמִן־min minnîy minnêy · fromH4480
• bothשְׁנַ֫יִםshenayim shettayim · twoH8147
• of them is the one whoאֲשֶׁר'ăsher · whichH834
• has neverלֹאlô' lô' lôh · notH3808
• existedהָיָהhâyâh · to beH1961
• seenרָאָהrâ'âh · to see: seeH7200
• the evilרַעra‛ râ‛âh · bad: evilH7451
• activityמַעֲשֶׂהma‛ăώeh · deedH4639
• that is doneעָשָׂה‛âώâh · to make: doH6213
• underתַּחַתtachath · underneath: underH8478
• the sunשֶׁ֫מֶשׁshemesh · sunH8121

Cross-references for Ecclesiastes 4:3

• Ecclesiastes 6:3If a man fathers a hundred children and lives many years, however many they be, but his soul is not satisfied with good things and he does not even have a proper burial, then I say, “Better the miscarriage than he,
• Job 3:10Because it did not shut the opening of my mother’s womb, Or hide trouble from my eyes.
• Job 10:18‘Why then have You brought me out of the womb? Would that I had died and no eye had seen me!
• Jeremiah 20:17Because he did not kill me before birth, So that my mother would have been my grave, And her womb ever pregnant.
• Matthew 24:19But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days!
• Luke 23:29For behold, the days are coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never nursed.’
• Ecclesiastes 1:14I have seen all the works which have been done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and striving after wind.
• Ecclesiastes 2:17So I hated life, for the work which had been done under the sun was grievous to me; because everything is futility and striving after wind.
• Psalms 55:6I said, “Oh, that I had wings like a dove! I would fly away and be at rest.
• Jeremiah 9:2Oh that I had in the desert A wayfarers’ lodging place; That I might leave my people And go from them! For all of them are 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

• Prison
• Threefold
• Esteem
• Synagogue, the Great

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