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Ecclesiastes 4:2

Discouragement and depressionDeath and loss

1 Again I looked, and I considered all the oppression taking place under the sun. I saw the tears of the oppressed, and they had no comforter; the power lay in the hands of their oppressors, and there was no comforter.

So I admired the dead, who had already died, above the living, who are still alive.

3 But better than both is he who has not yet existed, who has not seen the evil that is done under the sun.

4 I saw that all labor and success spring from a man’s envy of his neighbor. This too is futile and a pursuit of the wind.

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Do read the surrounding verses too, because the context often says more than a single verse.

Compare

BSB
So I admired the dead, who had already died, above the living, who are still alive.
KJV
Wherefore I praised the dead which are already dead more than the living which are yet alive.
WEB
Therefore I praised the dead who have been long dead more than the living who are yet alive.
ASV
Wherefore I praised the dead that have been long dead more than the living that are yet alive;
DARBY
Then I praised the dead who are already dead more than the living who are yet alive;
BLB
I—and I praised those who were dead, who already had died, above the living who are still alive;
ÅB
Da priste jeg de døde, de som allerede hadde fått dø, lykkelige fremfor de levende, de som enda var i live,
OTB
Jeg konkluderte med at de døde som allerede har gått bort, er mer heldige enn de levende som fortsatt er i live.
B1930
Da priste jeg de døde, de som allerede hadde fått dø, lykkelige fremfor de levende, de som ennu var i live,

Study notes (Tyndale)

Original text and word study

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