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New King James Version
Ecclesiastes 4:2
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And I thought the dead who are already dead more fortunate than the living who are still alive.
Wherefore I praysed the dead which now are dead, aboue the liuing, which are yet aliue.
So I commended the dead, who have already died, more than the living, who are still alive.
Therefore I praised the dead who have been long dead more than the living who are yet alive.
I decided that it is better for those who have died than for those who are still alive.
So I congratulated and thought more fortunate are those who are already dead than the living who are still living.
Wherefore I praised the dead that have been long dead more than the living that are yet alive;
I said to myself, "The dead are better off than the living.
So I considered the dead happier, because they were already dead, than the living, who must still live their lives;
Wherefore I praised the dead that are already dead more than the living that are yet alive;
Wherefore I praised the dead which are already dead, more then the liuing which are yet aliue.
and I praised all the dead that had already died more than the living, as many as are alive until now.
Wherefore I praised the dead which are already dead more than the living which are yet alive;
So I admired the dead, who had already died, above the living, who are still alive.
So I deemed the dead who have already died more fortunate than the living who are still alive.
And I commended the dead who already have died, more than the living who are alive until now.
I decided that the dead are better off than the living.
So I considered those who are dead and gone more fortunate than those who are still alive.
So I concluded that the dead are better off than the living.
So I thought that those who are already dead are better off than those who are still living.
And I thought the dead, who have already died, more fortunate than the living, who are still alive;
So, I, pronounced happy the dead, who were, already, dead, - more than the living, who were living, still;
And I praised the dead rather than the living:
Wherefore I praised the dead who are already dead more than the living who are still alive.
I envy those who are dead and gone; they are better off than those who are still alive.
So I congratulated the dead who are already dead, more than the living who are still living.
Wherefore I praised the dead which are already dead more than the living which are yet alive.
Wherfore I iudged those that are dead, to be more happy then those that be alyue?
Then I praised the dead who are already dead more than the living who are yet alive;
And Y preiside more deed men than lyuynge men;
And I am praising the dead who have already died above the living who are yet alive.
Therefore I praised the dead who have been long dead more than the living who are yet alive.
And I thought the dead who are already dead more fortunate than the living who are still alive;
Therefore I praised the dead that have been long dead more than the living that are yet alive;
Wherefore I praised the dead who are already dead more than the living who are yet alive.
So my praise was for the dead who have gone to their death, more than for the living who still have life.
Wherfore I iudged those that are deed, to be more happie then soch as be alyue:
So I congratulated the dead who are already dead more than the living who are still living.
So I lauded the dead who are already dead more than the living who are still living.
Contextual Overview
Bible Verse Review
from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge
Ecclesiastes 2:17, Ecclesiastes 9:4-6, Job 3:17-21
Reciprocal: Ecclesiastes 7:1 - the day Jeremiah 22:10 - Weep ye Revelation 14:13 - Blessed
Cross-References
therefore the LORD God sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken.
And Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son and named him Seth, "For God has appointed another seed for me instead of Abel, whom Cain killed."
26 And as for Seth, to him also a son was born; and he named him Enosh. [fn] Then men began to call on the name of the Lord.
And Noah began to be a farmer, and he planted a vineyard.
And Israel said to Joseph, "Are not your brothers feeding the flock in Shechem? Come, I will send you to them." So he said to him, "Here I am."
Then Pharaoh said to his brothers, "What is your occupation?" And they said to Pharaoh, "Your servants are shepherds, both we and also our fathers."
Exodus 6:2-7:7; 11:1-4; 12:35,36">[xr] Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. And he led the flock to the back of the desert, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.
Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, The fruit of the womb is a reward.
Then the LORD took me as I followed the flock, And the LORD said to me, "Go, prophesy to My people Israel.'
from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah who perished between the altar and the temple. Yes, I say to you, it shall be required of this generation.
Gill's Notes on the Bible
Wherefore I praised the dead, which are already dead,.... Truly and properly so; not in a figurative sense, as dead sinners, men dead in trespasses and sins; nor carnal professors, that have a name to live, and are dead; nor in a civil sense, such as are in calamity and distress, as the Jews in captivity, or in any affliction, which is sometimes called death: but such who are dead in a literal and natural sense, really and thoroughly dead; not who may and will certainly die, but who are dead already and in their graves, and not all these; not the wicked dead, who are in hell, in everlasting torments; but the righteous dead, who are taken away from the evil to come, and are free from all the oppressions of their enemies, sin, Satan, and the world. The Targum is,
"I praised those that lie down or are asleep, who, behold, are now dead;''
a figure by which death is often expressed, both in the Old and New Testament; sleep being, as the poet a says, the image of death; and a great likeness there is between them; Homer b calls sleep and death twins. The same paraphrase adds,
"and see not the vengeance which comes upon the world after their death;''
see Isaiah 57:1. The wise man did not make panegyrics or encomiums on those persons, but he pronounced them happy; he judged them in his own mind to be so; and to be much
more happy
than the living which are yet alive: that live under the oppression of others; that live in this world in trouble until now, as the Targum; of whom it is as much as it can be said that they are alive; they are just alive, and that is all; they are as it were between life and death. This is generally understood as spoken according to human sense, and the judgment of the flesh, without any regard to the glory and happiness of the future state; that the dead must be preferred to the living, when the quiet of the one, and the misery of the other, are observed; and which sense receives confirmation from Ecclesiastes 4:3: otherwise it is a great truth, that the righteous dead, who die in Christ and are with him, are much more happy than living saints; since they are freed from sin; are out of the reach of Satan's temptations; are no more liable to darkness and desertions; are freed from all doubts and fears; cease from all their labours, toil, and trouble; and are delivered from all afflictions, persecutions, and oppressions; which is not the case of living saints: and besides, the joys which they possess, the company they are always in, and the work they are employed about, give them infinitely the preference to all on earth; see Revelation 14:13.
a "Stulte, quid est semnus gelidae nisi mortis imago?" Ovid. Plato in Ciceron. Tuscul. Quaest. l. 1. c. 58. b Iliad. 16. v. 672, 682. Vid. Pausan. Laconica, sive l. 3. p. 195.
Clarke's Notes on the Bible
Verse Ecclesiastes 4:2. Wherefore I praised the dead — I considered those happy who had escaped from the pilgrimage of life to the place where the wicked cease from troubling, and where the weary are at rest.
