Ecclesiastes 4:3

In 11 translations

BSB

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

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.

WEB

Yes, better than them both is him who has not yet been, who has not seen the evil work that is done under the sun.

ASV

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.

LSV

And better than both of them [is] he who has not yet been, in that he has not seen the evil work that has been done under the sun.

YLT

And better than both of them [is] he who hath not yet been, in that he hath not seen the evil work that hath been done under the sun.

DBY

and more fortunate than both is he who hath not yet been, who hath not seen the evil work that is done under the sun.

DRC

And I judged him happier than them both, that is not yet born, nor hath seen the evils that are done under the sun.

GNV

And I count him better then them both, which hath not yet bin: for he hath not seene the euill workes which are wrought vnder the sunne.

JPS

but better than they both is he that hath not yet been, who hath not seen the evil work that is done under the sun.

LXXE

Better also than both these is he who has not yet been, who has not seen all the evil work that is done under the sun.

Word by word Hebrew · tap a word

Words in brackets are English the glossers added; the Hebrew has no word for them, and they can carry a choice of tense or meaning.

Original-language editions

WLC

וְטוֹב֙ מִשְּׁנֵיהֶ֔ם אֵ֥ת אֲשֶׁר־עֲדֶ֖ן לֹ֣א הָיָ֑ה אֲשֶׁ֤ר לֹֽא־רָאָה֙ אֶת־הַמַּעֲשֶׂ֣ה הָרָ֔ע אֲשֶׁ֥ר נַעֲשָׂ֖ה תַּ֥חַת הַשָּֽׁמֶשׁ׃

LXX-Br

Καὶ ἀγαθὸς ὑπὲρ τοὺς δύο τούτους ὅστις οὔπω ἐγένετο, ὃς οὐκ εἶδε σὺν πᾶν τὸ ποίημα τὸ πονηρὸν τὸ πεποιημένον ὑπὸ τὸν ἥλιον.

In the reference works topics that cite this verse

From public-domain Bible dictionaries and topical indexes (1884–1915).

Cross-references most cited first

• Luke 23:29Look, the days are coming when people will say, ‘Blessed are the barren women, the wombs that never bore, and breasts that never nursed!’
• Matthew 24:19How miserable those days will be for pregnant and nursing mothers!
• Ecclesiastes 6:3–5A man may father a hundred children and live for many years; yet no matter how long he lives, if he is unsatisfied with his prosperity and does not even receive a proper burial, I say that a stillborn child is better…
• Ecclesiastes 2:17So I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. For everything is futile and a pursuit of the wind.
• Psalms 55:6–11I said, “Oh, that I had wings like a dove! I would fly away and find rest. How far away I would flee! In the wilderness I would remain. Selah I would hurry to my shelter, far from this raging tempest.” O Lord, confuse…
• Jeremiah 20:17–18because he did not kill me in the womb so that my mother might have been my grave, and her womb forever enlarged. Why did I come out of the womb to see only trouble and sorrow, and to end my days in shame?
• Job 3:10–16For that night did not shut the doors of the womb to hide the sorrow from my eyes. Why did I not perish at birth; why did I not die as I came from the womb? Why were there knees to receive me, and breasts that I should…
• Job 10:18–19Why then did You bring me from the womb? Oh, that I had died, and no eye had seen me! If only I had never come to be, but had been carried from the womb to the grave.
• Job 3:22who rejoice and greatly exult when they can find the grave?
• Jeremiah 9:2–3If only I had a traveler’s lodge in the wilderness, I would abandon my people and depart from them, for they are all adulterers, a crowd of faithless people. “They bend their tongues like bows; lies prevail over truth…
• Ecclesiastes 1:14I have seen all the things that are done under the sun, and have found them all to be futile, a pursuit of the wind.

From the OpenBible.info cross-reference set (votes from readers; not every link is a quotation or allusion).