Ecclesiastes 4:3

American Standard Version (1901)

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.

Additional Resources

Referenced Verses

  • Luke 23:29 : 29 For behold, the days are coming, in which they shall say, Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bare, and the breasts that never gave suck.
  • Job 3:10-16 : 10 Because it shut not up the doors of my [mother's] womb, Nor hid trouble from mine eyes. 11 Why died I not from the womb? Why did I not give up the ghost when my mother bare me? 12 Why did the knees receive me? Or why the breast, that I should suck? 13 For now should I have lain down and been quiet; I should have slept; then had I been at rest, 14 With kings and counsellors of the earth, Who built up waste places for themselves; 15 Or with princes that had gold, Who filled their houses with silver: 16 Or as a hidden untimely birth I had not been, As infants that never saw light.
  • Job 3:22 : 22 Who rejoice exceedingly, And are glad, when they can find the grave?
  • Job 10:18-19 : 18 Wherefore then hast thou brought me forth out of the womb? I had given up the ghost, and no eye had seen me. 19 I should have been as though I had not been; I should have been carried from the womb to the grave.
  • Ps 55:6-9 : 6 And I said, Oh that I had wings like a dove! Then would I fly away, and be at rest. 7 Lo, then would I wander far off, I would lodge in the wilderness. {{Selah 8 I would haste me to a shelter From the stormy wind and tempest. 9 Destroy, O Lord, [and] divide their tongue; For I have seen violence and strife in the city. 10 Day and night they go about it upon the walls thereof: Iniquity also and mischief are in the midst of it. 11 Wickedness is in the midst thereof: Oppression and guile depart not from its streets.
  • Eccl 1:14 : 14 I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and a striving after wind.
  • Eccl 2:17 : 17 So I hated life, because the work that is wrought under the sun was grievous unto me; for all is vanity and a striving after wind.
  • Eccl 6:3-5 : 3 If a man beget a hundred children, and live many years, so that the days of his years are many, but his soul be not filled with good, and moreover he have no burial; I say, that an untimely birth is better than he: 4 for it cometh in vanity, and departeth in darkness, and the name thereof is covered with darkness; 5 moreover it hath not seen the sun nor known it; this hath rest rather than the other:
  • Jer 9:2-3 : 2 Oh that I had in the wilderness a lodging-place of wayfaring men; that I might leave my people, and go from them! for they are all adulterers, an assembly of treacherous men. 3 And they bend their tongue, [as it were] their bow, for falsehood; and they are grown strong in the land, but not for truth: for they proceed from evil to evil, and they know not me, saith Jehovah.
  • Jer 20:17-18 : 17 because he slew me not from the womb; and so my mother would have been my grave, and her womb always great. 18 Wherefore came I forth out of the womb to see labor and sorrow, that my days should be consumed with shame?
  • Matt 24:19 : 19 But woe unto them that are with child and to them that give suck in those days!

Similar Verses (AI)

These verses are found using AI-powered semantic similarity based on meaning and context. Results may occasionally include unexpected connections.

  • Eccl 4:2
    83%

    2Wherefore I praised the dead that have been long dead more than the living that are yet alive;

  • Eccl 3:22
    79%

    22Wherefore I saw that there is nothing better, than that a man should rejoice in his works; for that is his portion: for who shall bring him [back] to see what shall be after him?

  • Eccl 4:4
    78%

    4Then I saw all labor and every skilful work, that for this a man is envied of his neighbor. This also is vanity and a striving after wind.

  • Eccl 6:5-6
    2 verses
    78%

    5moreover it hath not seen the sun nor known it; this hath rest rather than the other:

    6yea, though he live a thousand years twice told, and yet enjoy no good, do not all go to one place?

  • Eccl 4:15-16
    2 verses
    77%

    15I saw all the living that walk under the sun, that they were with the youth, the second, that stood up in his stead.

    16There was no end of all the people, even of all them over whom he was: yet they that come after shall not rejoice in him. Surely this also is vanity and a striving after wind.

  • Eccl 3:12
    77%

    12I know that there is nothing better for them, than to rejoice, and to do good so long as they live.

  • Eccl 6:8-12
    5 verses
    77%

    8For what advantage hath the wise more than the fool? [or] what hath the poor man, that knoweth how to walk before the living?

    9Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the desire: this also is vanity and a striving after wind.

    10Whatsoever hath been, the name thereof was given long ago; and it is known what man is; neither can he contend with him that is mightier than he.

    11Seeing there are many things that increase vanity, what is man the better?

    12For who knoweth what is good for man in [his] life, all the days of his vain life which he spendeth as a shadow? for who can tell a man what shall be after him under the sun?

  • Eccl 6:3
    77%

    3If a man beget a hundred children, and live many years, so that the days of his years are many, but his soul be not filled with good, and moreover he have no burial; I say, that an untimely birth is better than he:

  • Eccl 1:3
    76%

    3What profit hath man of all his labor wherein he laboreth under the sun?

  • Eccl 2:24-25
    2 verses
    76%

    24There is nothing better for a man [than] that he should eat and drink, and make his soul enjoy good in his labor. This also I saw, that it is from the hand of God.

    25For who can eat, or who can have enjoyment, more than I?

  • Eccl 2:21-22
    2 verses
    76%

    21For there is a man whose labor is with wisdom, and with knowledge, and with skilfulness; yet to a man that hath not labored therein shall he leave it for his portion. This also is vanity and a great evil.

    22For what hath a man of all his labor, and of the striving of his heart, wherein he laboreth under the sun?

  • Eccl 4:6-9
    4 verses
    75%

    6Better is a handful, with quietness, than two handfuls with labor and striving after wind.

    7Then I returned and saw vanity under the sun.

    8There is one that is alone, and he hath not a second; yea, he hath neither son nor brother; yet is there no end of all his labor, neither are his eyes satisfied with riches. For whom then, [saith he], do I labor, and deprive my soul of good? This also is vanity, yea, it is a sore travail.

    9Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor.

  • Eccl 1:9-10
    2 verses
    75%

    9That which hath been is that which shall be; and that which hath been done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.

    10Is there a thing whereof it may be said, See, this is new? it hath been long ago, in the ages which were before us.

  • Eccl 2:11-13
    3 verses
    75%

    11Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labor that I had labored to do; and, behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was no profit under the sun.

    12And I turned myself to behold wisdom, and madness, and folly: for what [can] the man [do] that cometh after the king? [even] that which hath been done long ago.

    13Then I saw that wisdom excelleth folly, as far as light excelleth darkness.

  • Eccl 2:16-19
    4 verses
    75%

    16For of the wise man, even as of the fool, there is no remembrance for ever; seeing that in the days to come all will have been long forgotten. And how doth the wise man die even as the fool!

    17So I hated life, because the work that is wrought under the sun was grievous unto me; for all is vanity and a striving after wind.

    18And I hated all my labor wherein I labored under the sun, seeing that I must leave it unto the man that shall be after me.

    19And who knoweth whether he will be a wise man or a fool? yet will he have rule over all my labor wherein I have labored, and wherein I have showed myself wise under the sun. This also is vanity.

  • Eccl 1:14
    75%

    14I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and a striving after wind.

  • Eccl 7:2
    75%

    2It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting: for that is the end of all men; and the living will lay it to his heart.

  • Eccl 3:15
    74%

    15That which is hath been long ago; and that which is to be hath long ago been: and God seeketh again that which is passed away.

  • Eccl 9:3-4
    2 verses
    74%

    3This is an evil in all that is done under the sun, that there is one event unto all: yea also, the heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live, and after that [they go] to the dead.

    4For to him that is joined with all the living there is hope; for a living dog is better than a dead lion.

  • Eccl 8:17
    74%

    17then I beheld all the work of God, that man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun: because however much a man labor to seek it out, yet he shall not find it; yea moreover, though a wise man think to know it, yet shall he not be able to find it.

  • Eccl 8:9-10
    2 verses
    74%

    9All this have I seen, and applied my heart unto every work that is done under the sun: [there is] a time wherein one man hath power over another to his hurt.

    10So I saw the wicked buried, and they came [to the grave] ; and they that had done right went away from the holy place, and were forgotten in the city: this also is vanity.

  • Eccl 6:1
    74%

    1There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, and it is heavy upon men:

  • Eccl 11:8
    74%

    8Yea, if a man live many years, let him rejoice in them all; but let him remember the days of darkness, for they shall be many. All that cometh is vanity.

  • Eccl 3:9-10
    2 verses
    74%

    9What profit hath he that worketh in that wherein he laboreth?

    10I have seen the travail which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised therewith.

  • Eccl 7:14-15
    2 verses
    73%

    14In the day of prosperity be joyful, and in the day of adversity consider; yea, God hath made the one side by side with the other, to the end that man should not find out anything [that shall be] after him.

    15All this have I seen in my days of vanity: there is a righteous man that perisheth in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man that prolongeth [his life] in his evil-doing.

  • Eccl 8:14-15
    2 verses
    73%

    14There is a vanity which is done upon the earth, that there are righteous men unto whom it happeneth according to the work of the wicked; again, there are wicked men to whom it happeneth according to the work of the righteous: I said that this also is vanity.

    15Then I commended mirth, because a man hath no better thing under the sun, than to eat, and to drink, and to be joyful: for that shall abide with him in his labor [all] the days of his life which God hath given him under the sun.

  • Eccl 4:13
    73%

    13Better is a poor and wise youth than an old and foolish king, who knoweth not how to receive admonition any more.

  • Eccl 9:13
    73%

    13I have also seen wisdom under the sun on this wise, and it seemed great unto me: