Ecclesiastes 4:2 And I declared that the dead, who had already died, are happier than the living, who are still alive.

◄ Ecclesiastes 4:2 ►

Parallel Verses

New International Version
And I declared that the dead, who had already died, are happier than the living, who are still alive.

English Standard Version
And I thought the dead who are already dead more fortunate than the living who are still alive.

New American Standard Bible
So I congratulated the dead who are already dead more than the living who are still living.

King James Bible
Wherefore I praised the dead which are already dead more than the living which are yet alive.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
So I admired the dead, who have already died, more than the living, who are still alive.

International Standard Version
So I commended the dead who had already died as being happier than the living who are still alive.

American Standard Version
Wherefore I praised the dead that have been long dead more than the living that are yet alive;

Douay-Rheims Bible
And I praised the dead rather than the living:

Darby Bible Translation
Then I praised the dead who are already dead more than the living who are yet alive;

Young's Literal Translation
And I am praising the dead who have already died above the living who are yet alive.

Commentaries

Matthew Henry's Commentary

4:1-3 It grieved Solomon to see might prevail against right. Wherever we turn, we see melancholy proofs of the wickedness and misery of mankind, who try to create trouble to themselves and to each other. Being thus hardly used, men are tempted to hate and despise life. But a good man, though badly off while in this world, cannot have cause to wish he had never been born, since he is glorifying the Lord, even in the fires, and will be happy at last, for ever happy. Ungodly men have most cause to wish the continuance of life with all its vexations, as a far more miserable condition awaits them if they die in their sins. If human and worldly things were our chief good, not to exist would be preferable to life, considering the various oppressions here below.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown

2. A profane sentiment if severed from its connection; but just in its bearing on Solomon's scope. If religion were not taken into account (Ec 3:17, 19), to die as soon as possible would be desirable, so as not to suffer or witness "oppressions"; and still more so, not to be born at all (Ec 7:1). Job (Job 3:12; 21:7), David (Ps 73:3, &c.), Jeremiah (Jer 12:1), Habakkuk (Hab 1:13), all passed through the same perplexity, until they went into the sanctuary, and looked beyond the present to the "judgment" (Ps 73:17; Hab 2:20; 3:17, 18). Then they saw the need of delay, before completely punishing the wicked, to give space for repentance, or else for accumulation of wrath (Ro 2:15); and before completely rewarding the godly, to give room for faith and perseverance in tribulation (Ps 92:7-12). Earnests, however, are often even now given, by partial judgments of the future, to assure us, in spite of difficulties, that God governs the earth.