Ecclesiastes 4:3

World English Bible (2000)

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.

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Referenced Verses

  • Luke 23:29 : 29 For behold, the days are coming in which they will say, 'Blessed are the barren, the wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never nursed.'
  • Job 3:10-16 : 10 because it didn't shut up the doors of my mother's womb, nor did it hide trouble from my eyes. 11 "Why didn't I die from the womb? Why didn't I give up the spirit when my mother bore me? 12 Why did the knees receive me? Or why the breast, that I should nurse? 13 For now should I have lain down and been quiet. I should have slept, then I would have been at rest, 14 with kings and counselors of the earth, who built up waste places for themselves; 15 or with princes who had gold, who filled their houses with silver: 16 or as a hidden untimely birth I had not been, as infants who never saw light.
  • Job 3:22 : 22 who rejoice exceedingly, and are glad, when they can find the grave?
  • Job 10:18-19 : 18 "'Why, then, have you brought me forth out of the womb? I wish I had given up the spirit, 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 I said, "Oh that I had wings like a dove! Then I would fly away, and be at rest. 7 Behold, then I would wander far off. I would lodge in the wilderness." Selah. 8 "I would hurry to a shelter from the stormy wind and storm." 9 Confuse them, Lord, and confound their language, for I have seen violence and strife in the city. 10 Day and night they prowl around on its walls. Malice and abuse are also within her. 11 Destructive forces are within her. Threats and lies don't depart from her streets.
  • Eccl 1:14 : 14 I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and behold, all is vanity and a chasing after wind.
  • Eccl 2:17 : 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 6:3-5 : 3 If a man fathers a hundred children, and lives many years, so that the days of his years are many, but his soul is not filled with good, and moreover he has no burial; I say, that a stillborn child is better than he: 4 for it comes in vanity, and departs in darkness, and its name is covered with darkness. 5 Moreover it has not seen the sun nor known it. This has 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 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 don't know me, says Yahweh.
  • Jer 20:17-18 : 17 because he didn't kill me from the womb; and so my mother would have been my grave, and her womb always great. 18 Why 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 to those who are with child and to nursing mothers 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%

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

  • Eccl 3:22
    79%

    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?

  • Eccl 4:4
    78%

    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 6:5-6
    2 verses
    78%

    5 Moreover it has not seen the sun nor known it. This has rest rather than the other.

    6 Yes, though he live a thousand years twice told, and yet fails to enjoy good, don't all go to one place?

  • Eccl 4:15-16
    2 verses
    77%

    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 3:12
    77%

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

  • Eccl 6:8-12
    5 verses
    77%

    8 For what advantage has the wise more than the fool? What has the poor man, that knows how to walk before the living?

    9 Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the desire. This also is vanity and a chasing after wind.

    10 Whatever has been, its name was given long ago; and it is known what man is; neither can he contend with him who is mightier than he.

    11 For there are many words that create vanity. What does that profit man?

    12 For who knows what is good for man in life, all the days of his vain life which he spends like a shadow? For who can tell a man what will be after him under the sun?

  • Eccl 6:3
    77%

    3 If a man fathers a hundred children, and lives many years, so that the days of his years are many, but his soul is not filled with good, and moreover he has no burial; I say, that a stillborn child is better than he:

  • Eccl 1:3
    76%

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

  • Eccl 2:24-25
    2 verses
    76%

    24 There 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.

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

  • Eccl 2:21-22
    2 verses
    76%

    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?

  • Eccl 4:6-9
    4 verses
    75%

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

    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.

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

  • Eccl 1:9-10
    2 verses
    75%

    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.

    10 Is there a thing of which it may be said, "Behold, this is new?" It has been long ago, in the ages which were before us.

  • Eccl 2:11-13
    3 verses
    75%

    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.

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

  • Eccl 2:16-19
    4 verses
    75%

    16 For of the wise man, even as of the fool, there is no memory for ever, since in the days to come all will have been long forgotten. Indeed, the wise man must die just like the fool!

    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.

    18 I hated all my labor in which I labored under the sun, because I must leave it to the man who comes after me.

    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.

  • Eccl 1:14
    75%

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

  • Eccl 7:2
    75%

    2 It 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 should take this to heart.

  • Eccl 3:15
    74%

    15 That which is has been long ago, and that which is to be has been long ago: and God seeks again that which is passed away.

  • Eccl 9:3-4
    2 verses
    74%

    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.

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

  • Eccl 8:17
    74%

    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 8:9-10
    2 verses
    74%

    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 6:1
    74%

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

  • Eccl 11:8
    74%

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

  • Eccl 3:9-10
    2 verses
    74%

    9 What profit has he who works in that in which he labors?

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

  • Eccl 7:14-15
    2 verses
    73%

    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.

    15 All this have I seen in my days of vanity: there is a righteous man who perishes in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man who lives long in his evildoing.

  • Eccl 8:14-15
    2 verses
    73%

    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.

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

  • Eccl 4:13
    73%

    13 Better is a poor and wise youth than an old and foolish king who doesn't know how to receive admonition any more.

  • Eccl 9:13
    73%

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