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THE MESSAGE

Ecclesiastes 9:4

Still, anyone selected out for life has hope, for, as they say, "A living dog is better than a dead lion." The living at least know something, even if it's only that they're going to die. But the dead know nothing and get nothing. They're a minus that no one remembers. Their loves, their hates, yes, even their dreams, are long gone. There's not a trace of them left in the affairs of this earth.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Death;   Hades;   Lion;   Thompson Chain Reference - Animals;   Dogs;   The Topic Concordance - Hope;  

Dictionaries:

- Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Death, Mortality;   Hope;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Ecclesiastes, the Book of;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Ecclesiastes, Book of;   Fellowship;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Hope;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Dog;   Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types - Lion;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Canon of the Old Testament;   Dead;   Wisdom;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Death, Views and Customs Concerning;   Menander;  

Devotionals:

- Every Day Light - Devotion for August 24;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
But there is hope for whoever is joined with all the living, since a live dog is better than a dead lion.
Hebrew Names Version
For to him who is joined with all the living there is hope; for a living dog is better than a dead lion.
King James Version
For to him that is joined to all the living there is hope: for a living dog is better than a dead lion.
English Standard Version
But he who is joined with all the living has hope, for a living dog is better than a dead lion.
New American Standard Bible
For whoever is joined to all the living, there is hope; for better a live dog, than a dead lion.
New Century Version
But anyone still alive has hope; even a live dog is better off than a dead lion!
Amplified Bible
[There is no exemption,] but whoever is joined with all the living, has hope; surely a live dog is better than a dead lion.
World English Bible
For to him who is joined with all the living there is hope; for a living dog is better than a dead lion.
Geneva Bible (1587)
Surely whosoeuer is ioyned to all ye liuing, there is hope: for it is better to a liuing dog, then to a dead lyon.
Legacy Standard Bible
For whoever is joined with all the living, there is confidence; surely a live dog is better than a dead lion.
Berean Standard Bible
There is hope, however, for anyone who is among the living; for even a live dog is better than a dead lion.
Contemporary English Version
As long as we are alive, we still have hope, just as a live dog is better off than a dead lion.
Complete Jewish Bible
For as long as a person is linked with the living, there is hope — better to be a living dog than a dead lion!
Darby Translation
For to him that is joined to all the living there is hope; for a living dog is better than a dead lion.
Easy-to-Read Version
There is hope for those who are still alive—it does not matter who they are. But this saying is true: A living dog is better than a dead lion.
George Lamsa Translation
For him who is joined with all the living there is hope; for a living dog is better than a dead lion.
Good News Translation
But anyone who is alive in the world of the living has some hope; a live dog is better off than a dead lion.
Lexham English Bible
Whoever is joined to all the living has hope. After all, even a live dog is better than a dead lion!
Literal Translation
For one who is chosen to be among all the living, there is hope. For a living dog is better than a dead lion.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
And why? As longe as a man lyueth, he is careles: for a quyck dogg (saye they) is better the a deed lion:
American Standard Version
For to him that is joined with all the living there is hope; for a living dog is better than a dead lion.
Bible in Basic English
For him who is joined to all the living there is hope; a living dog is better than a dead lion.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
For to him that is joined to all the living there is hope; for a living dog is better than a dead lion.
King James Version (1611)
For to him that is ioyned to all the liuing, there is hope: for a liuing dogge is better then a dead Lion.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
And why? as long as a man liueth, he hath an hope: for a quicke dogge [say they] is better then a dead lion.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
for who is he that has fellowship with all the living? there is hope of him: for a living dog is better than a dead lion.
English Revised Version
For to him that is joined with all the living there is hope: for a living dog is better than a dead lion.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
No man is, that lyueth euere, and that hath trist of this thing; betere is a quik dogge than a deed lioun.
Update Bible Version
For to him that is joined with all the living there is hope; for a living dog is better than a dead lion.
Webster's Bible Translation
For to him that is joined to all the living there is hope: for a living dog is better than a dead lion.
New English Translation
But whoever is among the living has hope; a live dog is better than a dead lion.
New King James Version
But for him who is joined to all the living there is hope, for a living dog is better than a dead lion.
New Living Translation
There is hope only for the living. As they say, "It's better to be a live dog than a dead lion!"
New Life Bible
But there is hope for the one who is among the living. For sure a live dog is better off than a dead lion.
New Revised Standard
But whoever is joined with all the living has hope, for a living dog is better than a dead lion.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
For, whosoever was united to all the living, for him, there was hope, - -inasmuch as, a living dog, fared better than a dead lion.
Douay-Rheims Bible
There is no man that liveth always, or that hopeth for this: a living dog is better than a dead lion.
Revised Standard Version
But he who is joined with all the living has hope, for a living dog is better than a dead lion.
Young's Literal Translation
But [to] him who is joined unto all the living there is confidence, for to a living dog it [is] better than to the dead lion.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
For whoever is joined with all the living, there is hope; surely a live dog is better than a dead lion.

Contextual Overview

4Still, anyone selected out for life has hope, for, as they say, "A living dog is better than a dead lion." The living at least know something, even if it's only that they're going to die. But the dead know nothing and get nothing. They're a minus that no one remembers. Their loves, their hates, yes, even their dreams, are long gone. There's not a trace of them left in the affairs of this earth. 7Seize life! Eat bread with gusto, Drink wine with a robust heart. Oh yes—God takes pleasure in your pleasure! Dress festively every morning. Don't skimp on colors and scarves. Relish life with the spouse you love Each and every day of your precarious life. Each day is God's gift. It's all you get in exchange For the hard work of staying alive. Make the most of each one! Whatever turns up, grab it and do it. And heartily! This is your last and only chance at it, For there's neither work to do nor thoughts to think In the company of the dead, where you're most certainly headed.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Job 14:7-12, Job 27:8, Isaiah 38:18, Lamentations 3:21, Lamentations 3:22, Luke 16:26-29

Reciprocal: Job 24:19 - so doth Ecclesiastes 4:2 - General Isaiah 57:18 - to his

Cross-References

Leviticus 3:17
The Peace-Offering "If your offering is a Peace-Offering and you present an animal from the herd, either male or female, it must be an animal without any defect. Lay your hand on the head of your offering and slaughter it at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting. Aaron's sons, the priests, will throw the blood on all sides of the Altar. As a Fire-Gift to God from the Peace-Offering, present all the fat that covers or is connected to the entrails, the two kidneys and the fat around them at the loins, and the lobe of the liver that is removed along with the kidneys. Aaron and his sons will burn it on the Altar along with the Whole-Burnt-Offering that is on the wood prepared for the fire: a Fire-Gift, a pleasing fragrance to God . "If your Peace-Offering to God comes from the flock, bring a male or female without defect. If you offer a lamb, offer it to God . Lay your hand on the head of your offering and slaughter it at the Tent of Meeting. The sons of Aaron will throw its blood on all sides of the Altar. As a Fire-Gift to God from the Peace-Offering, present its fat, the entire fat tail cut off close to the backbone, all the fat on and connected to the entrails, the two kidneys and the fat around them on the loins, and the lobe of the liver which is removed along with the kidneys. The priest will burn it on the Altar: a meal, a Fire-Gift to God . "If the offering is a goat, bring it into the presence of God , lay your hand on its head, and slaughter it in front of the Tent of Meeting. Aaron's sons will throw the blood on all sides of the Altar. As a Fire-Gift to God present the fat that covers and is connected to the entrails, the two kidneys and the fat which is around them on the loins, and the lobe of the liver which is removed along with the kidneys. The priest will burn them on the Altar: a meal, a Fire-Gift, a pleasing fragrance. "All the fat belongs to God . This is the fixed rule down through the generations, wherever you happen to live: Don't eat the fat; don't eat the blood. None of it."
Leviticus 19:26
"Don't eat meat with blood in it. "Don't practice divination or sorcery.
Deuteronomy 12:16
But you may not eat the blood. Pour the blood out on the ground like water. Nor may you eat there the tithe of your grain, new wine, or olive oil; nor the firstborn of your herds and flocks; nor any of the Vow-Offerings that you vow; nor your Freewill-Offerings and Tribute-Offerings. All these you must eat in the Presence of God , your God, in the place God , your God, chooses—you, your son and daughter, your servant and maid, and the Levite who lives in your neighborhood. You are to celebrate in the Presence of God , your God, all the things you've been able to accomplish.
Deuteronomy 12:23
Only this: Absolutely no blood. Don't eat the blood. Blood is life; don't eat the life with the meat. Don't eat it; pour it out on the ground like water. Don't eat it; then you'll have a good life, you and your children after you. By all means, do the right thing in God 's eyes.
Deuteronomy 14:21
Because you are a people holy to God , your God, don't eat anything that you find dead. You can, though, give it to a foreigner in your neighborhood for a meal or sell it to a foreigner. Don't boil a kid in its mother's milk.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

For to him that is joined to all the living there is hope,.... That is, who is among the living, is one of them, and, as long as he is, there is hope, if his circumstances are mean, and he is poor and afflicted, that it may be better with him in time; see Job 14:7; or of his being a good man, though now wicked; of his being called and converted, as some are at the eleventh hour, even on a death bed; and especially there is a hope of men, if they are under the means of grace, seeing persons have been made partakers of the grace of God after long waiting. There is here a "Keri" and a "Cetib", a marginal reading and a textual writing; the former reads, "that is joined", the latter, "that is chosen"; our version follows the marginal reading, as do the Targum, Jarchi, Aben Ezra, the Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic versions: some, following the latter, render the words, "who is to be chosen" y, or preferred, a living, or a dead man? not a dead but a living man: "to all the living there is hope"; of their being better; and, as Jarchi observes, there is hope, while alive, even though he is a wicked man joined to the wicked; yea, there is hope of the wicked, that he may be good before he dies;

for a living dog is better than a dead lion; a proverbial speech, showing that life is to be preferred to death; and that a mean, abject, and contemptible person, living, who for his despicable condition may be compared to a dog, is to be preferred to the most generous man, or to the greatest potentate, dead; since the one may possibly be useful in some respects or another, the other cannot: though a living sinner, who is like to a dog for his uncleanness and vileness, is not better than a dead saint or righteous man, comparable to a lion, who has hope in his death, and dies in the Lord.

y מי אשר יבחר "quisquis eligatur", Montanus, so Gejerus.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

For to him - Rather: “Yet to him.” Notwithstanding evils, life has its advantage, and especially when compared with death.

Dog - To the Hebrews a type of all that was contemptible 1 Samuel 17:43.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Ecclesiastes 9:4. For to him that is joined to all the living there is hope — While a man lives he hopes to amend, and he hopes to have a better lot; and thus life is spent, hoping to grow better, and hoping to get more. The Vulgate has, "There is none that shall live always, nor has any hope of such a thing." Perhaps the best translation is the following: "What, therefore, is to be chosen? In him that is living there is hope." Then choose that eternal life which thou hopest to possess.

A living dog is better than a dead lion. — I suppose this was a proverb. The smallest measure of animal existence is better than the largest of dead matter. The poorest living peasant is infinitely above Alexander the Great.


 
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