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.
• 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.
• New Living Translation (NLT)But most fortunate of all are those who are not yet born. For they have not seen all the evil that is done under the sun.

Context of Ecclesiastes 4:3

1Again I looked and saw all the oppression that was taking place under the sun: I saw the tears of the oppressed— and they have no comforter; power was on the side of their oppressors— and they have no comforter. 2And I declared that the dead, who had already died, are happier than the living, who are still alive. But better than both is the one who has never been born, who has not seen the evil that is done under the sun. 4And I saw that all toil and all achievement spring from one person’s envy of another. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind. 5Fools fold their hands and ruin themselves.

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

Words taken from the KJV.

• Yea, betterטוֹבţôb · pleasantH2896
• than bothשְׁנַ֫יִםshenayim shettayim · twoH8147
• they, which hath not yetעֲדֶן‛ăden ‛ădennâh · stillH5728
• been, who hath not seenרָאָהrâ'âh · to see: seeH7200
• the evilרַעra‛ râ‛âh · bad: evilH7451
• workמַעֲשֶׂהma‛ăώeh · deedH4639
• that is doneעָשָׂה‛âώâh · to make: doH6213
• under the sunשֶׁ֫מֶשׁshemesh · sunH8121

Cross-references for Ecclesiastes 4:3

• Ecclesiastes 6:3A man may have a hundred children and live many years; yet no matter how long he lives, if he cannot enjoy his prosperity and does not receive proper burial, I say that a stillborn child is better off than he.
• Job 3:10for it did not shut the doors of the womb on me to hide trouble from my eyes.
• Job 10:18“Why then did you bring me out of the womb? I wish I had died before any eye saw me.
• Jeremiah 20:17For he did not kill me in the womb, with my mother as my grave, her womb enlarged forever.
• Matthew 24:19How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers!
• Luke 23:29For the time will come when you will say, ‘Blessed are the childless women, the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!’
• Ecclesiastes 1:14I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind.
• Ecclesiastes 2:17So I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. All of it is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.
• Psalms 55:6I said, “Oh, that I had the wings of a dove! I would fly away and be at rest.
• Jeremiah 9:2Oh, that I had in the desert a lodging place for travelers, so that I might leave my people and go away from them; for they are all adulterers, a crowd of unfaithful people.

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