Ecclesiastes 4:1

World English Bible (2000)

Then I returned and saw all the oppressions that are done under the sun: and behold, the tears of those who were oppressed, and they had no comforter; and on the side of their oppressors there was power; but they had no comforter.

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Referenced Verses

  • Eccl 3:16 : 16 Moreover I saw under the sun, in the place of justice, that wickedness was there; and in the place of righteousness, that wickedness was there.
  • Eccl 5:8 : 8 If you see the oppression of the poor, and the violent taking away of justice and righteousness in a district, don't marvel at the matter: for one official is eyed by a higher one; and there are officials over them.
  • Isa 5:7 : 7 For the vineyard of Yahweh of Armies is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for justice, but, behold, oppression; for righteousness, but, behold, a cry of distress.
  • Lam 1:2 : 2 She weeps bitterly in the night, and her tears are on her cheeks; among all her lovers she has none to comfort her: All her friends have dealt treacherously with her; they are become her enemies.
  • Lam 1:9 : 9 Her filthiness was in her skirts; she didn't remember her latter end; therefore is she come down wonderfully; she has no comforter: see, Yahweh, my affliction; for the enemy has magnified himself.
  • Mal 2:13 : 13 This again you do: you cover the altar of Yahweh with tears, with weeping, and with sighing, because he doesn't regard the offering any more, neither receives it with good will at your hand.
  • Mal 3:5 : 5 I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against the perjurers, and against those who oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and who deprive the foreigner of justice, and don't fear me," says Yahweh of Armies.
  • Mal 3:18 : 18 Then you shall return and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him who serves God and him who doesn't serve him.
  • Matt 26:56 : 56 But all this has happened, that the Scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled." Then all the disciples left him, and fled.
  • 2 Tim 4:16-17 : 16 At my first defense, no one came to help me, but all left me. May it not be held against them. 17 But the Lord stood by me, and strengthened me, that through me the message might be fully proclaimed, and that all the Gentiles might hear; and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion.
  • Jas 5:4 : 4 Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you have kept back by fraud, cry out, and the cries of those who reaped have entered into the ears of the Lord of Armies.
  • Isa 51:23 : 23 and I will put it into the hand of those who afflict you, who have said to your soul, 'Bow down, that we may walk over you;' and you have laid your back as the ground, and as the street, to those who walk over."
  • Isa 59:7 : 7 Their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood: their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; desolation and destruction are in their paths.
  • Isa 59:13-15 : 13 transgressing and denying Yahweh, and turning away from following our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood. 14 Justice is turned away backward, and righteousness stands afar off; for truth is fallen in the street, and uprightness can't enter. 15 Yes, truth is lacking; and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey. Yahweh saw it, and it displeased him that there was no justice.
  • Eccl 7:7 : 7 Surely extortion makes the wise man foolish; and a bribe destroys the understanding.
  • Exod 1:13-14 : 13 The Egyptians ruthlessly made the children of Israel serve, 14 and they made their lives bitter with hard service, in mortar and in brick, and in all kinds of service in the field, all their service, in which they ruthlessly made them serve.
  • Exod 1:16 : 16 and he said, "When you perform the duty of a midwife to the Hebrew women, and see them on the birth stool; if it is a son, then you shall kill him; but if it is a daughter, then she shall live."
  • Exod 1:22 : 22 Pharaoh commanded all his people, saying, "You shall cast every son who is born into the river, and every daughter you shall save alive."
  • Exod 2:23-24 : 23 It happened in the course of those many days, that the king of Egypt died, and the children of Israel sighed because of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up to God because of the bondage. 24 God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.
  • Exod 5:16-19 : 16 No straw is given to your servants, and they tell us, 'Make brick!' and behold, your servants are beaten; but the fault is in your own people." 17 But he said, "You are idle! You are idle! Therefore you say, 'Let us go and sacrifice to Yahweh.' 18 Go therefore now, and work, for no straw shall be given to you, yet you shall deliver the same number of bricks!" 19 The officers of the children of Israel saw that they were in trouble, when it was said, "You shall not diminish anything from your daily quota of bricks!"
  • Deut 28:33 : 33 The fruit of your ground, and all your labors, shall a nation which you don't know eat up; and you shall be only oppressed and crushed always;
  • Deut 28:48 : 48 therefore you shall serve your enemies whom Yahweh shall send against you, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in want of all things: and he shall put a yoke of iron on your neck, until he has destroyed you.
  • Judg 4:3 : 3 The children of Israel cried to Yahweh: for he had nine hundred chariots of iron; and twenty years he mightily oppressed the children of Israel.
  • Judg 10:7-8 : 7 The anger of Yahweh was kindled against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of the Philistines, and into the hand of the children of Ammon. 8 They troubled and oppressed the children of Israel that year: eighteen years [oppressed they] all the children of Israel that were beyond the Jordan in the land of the Amorites, which is in Gilead.
  • Neh 5:1-5 : 1 Then there arose a great cry of the people and of their wives against their brothers the Jews. 2 For there were that said, "We, our sons and our daughters, are many. Let us get grain, that we may eat and live." 3 Some also there were that said, "We are mortgaging our fields, and our vineyards, and our houses. Let us get grain, because of the famine." 4 There were also some who said, "We have borrowed money for the king's tribute using our fields and our vineyards as collateral. 5 Yet now our flesh is as the flesh of our brothers, our children as their children. Behold, we bring into bondage our sons and our daughters to be servants, and some of our daughters have been brought into bondage. Neither is it in our power to help it; for other men have our fields and our vineyards."
  • Job 6:29 : 29 Please return. Let there be no injustice. Yes, return again. My cause is righteous.
  • Job 16:4 : 4 I also could speak as you do. If your soul were in my soul's place, I could join words together against you, and shake my head at you,
  • Job 19:21-22 : 21 "Have pity on me, have pity on me, you my friends; for the hand of God has touched me. 22 Why do you persecute me as God, and are not satisfied with my flesh?
  • Job 24:7-9 : 7 They lie all night naked without clothing, and have no covering in the cold. 8 They are wet with the showers of the mountains, and embrace the rock for lack of a shelter. 9 There are those who pluck the fatherless from the breast, and take a pledge of the poor, 10 So that they go around naked without clothing. Being hungry, they carry the sheaves. 11 They make oil within the walls of these men. They tread wine presses, and suffer thirst. 12 From out of the populous city, men groan. The soul of the wounded cries out, yet God doesn't regard the folly.
  • Job 35:9 : 9 "By reason of the multitude of oppressions they cry out. They cry for help by reason of the arm of the mighty.
  • Ps 10:9-9 : 9 He lurks in secret as a lion in his ambush. He lies in wait to catch the helpless. He catches the helpless, when he draws him in his net. 10 The helpless are crushed. They collapse. They fall under his strength.
  • Ps 12:5 : 5 "Because of the oppression of the weak and because of the groaning of the needy, I will now arise," says Yahweh; "I will set him in safety from those who malign him."
  • Ps 42:3 : 3 My tears have been my food day and night, while they continually ask me, "Where is your God?"
  • Ps 42:9 : 9 I will ask God, my rock, "Why have you forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?"
  • Ps 69:20 : 20 Reproach has broken my heart, and I am full of heaviness. I looked for some to take pity, but there was none; for comforters, but I found none.
  • Ps 80:5 : 5 You have fed them with the bread of tears, and given them tears to drink in large measure.
  • Ps 102:8-9 : 8 My enemies reproach me all day. Those who are mad at me use my name as a curse. 9 For I have eaten ashes like bread, and mixed my drink with tears,
  • Ps 142:4 : 4 Look on my right, and see; for there is no one who is concerned for me. Refuge has fled from me. No one cares for my soul.
  • Prov 19:7 : 7 All the relatives of the poor shun him: how much more do his friends avoid him! He pursues them with pleas, but they are gone.
  • Prov 28:3 : 3 A needy man who oppresses the poor is like a driving rain which leaves no crops.
  • Prov 28:15-16 : 15 As a roaring lion or a charging bear, so is a wicked ruler over helpless people. 16 A tyrannical ruler lacks judgment. One who hates ill-gotten gain will have long 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 4:7-8
    2 verses
    79%

    7 Then I returned and saw vanity under the sun.

    8 There is one who is alone, and he has neither son nor brother. There is no end to all of his labor, neither are his eyes satisfied with wealth. "For whom then, do I labor, and deprive my soul of enjoyment?" This also is vanity. Yes, it is a miserable business.

  • Eccl 8:9-10
    2 verses
    77%

    9 All this have I seen, and applied my mind to every work that is done under the sun. There is a time in which one man has power over another to his hurt.

    10 So I saw the wicked buried. Indeed they came also from holiness. They went and were forgotten in the city where they did this. This also is vanity.

  • Eccl 4:2-4
    3 verses
    75%

    2 Therefore I praised the dead who have been long dead more than the living who are yet alive.

    3 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.

    4 Then I saw all the labor and achievement that is the envy of a man's neighbor. This also is vanity and a striving after wind.

  • Eccl 2:10-12
    3 verses
    75%

    10 Whatever my eyes desired, I didn't keep from them. I didn't withhold my heart from any joy, for my heart rejoiced because of all my labor, and this was my portion from all my labor.

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

    12 I turned myself to consider wisdom, madness, and folly: for what can the king's successor do? Just that which has been done long ago.

  • Eccl 1:12-14
    3 verses
    74%

    12 I, the Preacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem.

    13 I applied my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom concerning all that is done under the sky. It is a heavy burden that God has given to the sons of men to be afflicted with.

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

  • Eccl 4:15-16
    2 verses
    74%

    15 I saw all the living who walk under the sun, that they were with the youth, the other, who succeeded him.

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

  • Eccl 2:19-23
    5 verses
    73%

    19 Who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will have rule over all of my labor in which I have labored, and in which I have shown myself wise under the sun. This also is vanity.

    20 Therefore I began to cause my heart to despair concerning all the labor in which I had labored under the sun.

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

    22 For what has a man of all his labor, and of the striving of his heart, in which he labors under the sun?

    23 For all his days are sorrows, and his travail is grief; yes, even in the night his heart takes no rest. This also is vanity.

  • Eccl 6:1
    73%

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

  • Eccl 3:16
    73%

    16 Moreover I saw under the sun, in the place of justice, that wickedness was there; and in the place of righteousness, that wickedness was there.

  • Job 30:25
    73%

    25 Didn't I weep for him who was in trouble? Wasn't my soul grieved for the needy?

  • Job 35:9
    72%

    9 "By reason of the multitude of oppressions they cry out. They cry for help by reason of the arm of the mighty.

  • Eccl 9:1
    71%

    1 For all this I laid to my heart, even to explore all this: that the righteous, and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God; whether it is love or hatred, man doesn't know it; all is before them.

  • Eccl 3:10
    71%

    10 I have seen the burden which God has given to the sons of men to be afflicted with.

  • Eccl 8:14
    71%

    14 There is a vanity which is done on the earth, that there are righteous men to whom it happens according to the work of the wicked. Again, there are wicked men to whom it happens according to the work of the righteous. I said that this also is vanity.

  • Eccl 10:5
    71%

    5 There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, the sort of error which proceeds from the ruler.

  • Eccl 5:8
    71%

    8 If you see the oppression of the poor, and the violent taking away of justice and righteousness in a district, don't marvel at the matter: for one official is eyed by a higher one; and there are officials over them.

  • Ps 69:20
    71%

    20 Reproach has broken my heart, and I am full of heaviness. I looked for some to take pity, but there was none; for comforters, but I found none.

  • Eccl 1:3
    71%

    3 What does man gain from all his labor in which he labors under the sun?

  • Eccl 2:17
    70%

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

  • Eccl 1:9
    70%

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

  • Eccl 3:22
    70%

    22 Therefore I saw that there is nothing better, than that a man should rejoice in his works; for that is his portion: for who can bring him to see what will be after him?

  • Lam 1:16
    70%

    16 For these things I weep; my eye, my eye runs down with water; Because the comforter who should refresh my soul is far from me: My children are desolate, because the enemy has prevailed.

  • Eccl 9:13
    70%

    13 I have also seen wisdom under the sun in this way, and it seemed great to me.

  • Eccl 8:16-17
    2 verses
    69%

    16 When I applied my heart to know wisdom, and to see the business that is done on the earth (for also there is that neither day nor night sees sleep with his eyes),

    17 then I saw all the work of God, that man can't find out the work that is done under the sun, because however much a man labors to seek it out, yet he won't find it. Yes even though a wise man thinks he can comprehend it, he won't be able to find it.

  • Eccl 5:13
    69%

    13 There is a grievous evil which I have seen under the sun: wealth kept by its owner to his harm.

  • Eccl 5:16
    69%

    16 This also is a grievous evil, that in all points as he came, so shall he go. And what profit does he have who labors for the wind?

  • Eccl 7:14
    69%

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

  • Eccl 9:3
    69%

    3 This is an evil in all that is done under the sun, that there is one event to all: yes 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.

  • Eccl 1:17
    69%

    17 I applied my heart to know wisdom, and to know madness and folly. I perceived that this also was a chasing after wind.

  • Lam 1:21
    69%

    21 They have heard that I sigh; there is none to comfort me; All my enemies have heard of my trouble; they are glad that you have done it: You will bring the day that you have proclaimed, and they shall be like me.

  • Isa 22:4
    69%

    4 Therefore I said, "Look away from me. I will weep bitterly. Don't labor to comfort me for the destruction of the daughter of my people.

  • Job 3:18
    69%

    18 There the prisoners are at ease together. They don't hear the voice of the taskmaster.

  • Eccl 2:25
    69%

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

  • Hab 1:4
    68%

    4 Therefore the law is paralyzed, and justice never goes forth; for the wicked surround the righteous; therefore justice goes forth perverted.

  • Eccl 3:12
    68%

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

  • Eccl 2:15
    68%

    15 Then I said in my heart, "As it happens to the fool, so will it happen even to me; and why was I then more wise?" Then I said in my heart that this also is vanity.