Verse 3

If a man begets a hundred children and lives many years, so that the days of his years are many, yet his soul is not filled with good, and indeed he has no burial; I say, that a premature birth is better than he.

Other Translations

• GT, oversatt fra Hebraisk

  Om en mann får hundre barn og lever mange år, selv om han har mange leveår, men sjelen hans ikke blir mettet med det gode og han ikke får en ordentlig grav, sier jeg at det er bedre med et barn som aldri har fått leve enn å oppleve dette.

• Moderne oversettelse av Bibelen fra 1611 KJV med hebraisk kontekst

  Om en mann føder hundre barn og lever mange år, slik at hans dager blir mange, men hans sjel ikke fylles med godt, og han ikke får en gravferd, sier jeg at et dødfødt barn er bedre enn han.

• Norsk King James

  Hvis en mann får hundre barn og lever mange år, slik at hans leveår er mange, men han ikke får oppleve noe godt og ikke har gravsted, da er en tidlig fødsel bedre enn han.

• Modernisert Norsk Bibel 1866

  Selv om en mann får hundre barn og lever mange år, så hans livsdager blir lange, men han ikke nyter det gode, og han heller ikke får en begravelse, sier jeg at et dødfødt barn er bedre enn han.

• Oversettelse av hebraiske Bibeltekster til moderne norsk bokmål

  Om en mann får hundre barn og lever mange år, uansett hvor mange år han lever, men hans sjel ikke mettes av det gode, og han ikke får en grav, sier jeg: Et dødfødt barn har det bedre enn ham.

• Bibelen: En Moderne Oversettelse av King James Version 1611

  Om en mann får hundre barn og lever mange år, så dagene av hans liv er mange, men hans sjel ikke fylles med det gode, og han til og med ikke får en begravelse, da sier jeg at en dødfødt er bedre enn han.

• o3-mini KJV Norsk

  Om en mann får hundre barn og lever mange år, slik at dagene hans er mange, men hans sjel ikke fylles av det gode, og han heller ikke får en ordentlig begravelse, sier jeg: Det er bedre at han aldri ble født.

• En Moderne Oversettelse av King James Version 1611 (mar 2025)

  Om en mann får hundre barn og lever mange år, så dagene av hans liv er mange, men hans sjel ikke fylles med det gode, og han til og med ikke får en begravelse, da sier jeg at en dødfødt er bedre enn han.

• Lingvistisk bibeloversettelse fra grunntekst

  Om en mann får hundre barn og lever i mange år, men ikke nyter det gode eller har en skikkelig grav, sier jeg at en dødfødt er bedre stilt enn ham.

• Linguistic Bible Translation from Source Texts

  A man may father a hundred children and live many years; yet no matter how long he lives, if he cannot enjoy life's good things and receives no proper burial, I say that a stillborn child is better off than he.

• biblecontext

  { "verseID": "Ecclesiastes.6.3", "source": "אִם־יוֹלִ֣יד אִ֣ישׁ מֵאָ֡ה וְשָׁנִים֩ רַבּ֨וֹת יִֽחְיֶ֜ה וְרַ֣ב ׀ שֶׁיִּהְי֣וּ יְמֵֽי־שָׁנָ֗יו וְנַפְשׁוֹ֙ לֹא־תִשְׂבַּ֣ע מִן־הַטּוֹבָ֔ה וְגַם־קְבוּרָ֖ה לֹא־הָ֣יְתָה לּ֑וֹ אָמַ֕רְתִּי ט֥וֹב מִמֶּ֖נּוּ הַנָּֽפֶל׃", "text": "If-*yôlîd* *ʾîš* hundred and-*šānîm* *rabbôṯ* *yiḥyeh* and-many *šeyyihyû* *yəmê-šānāyw* and-*nap̄šô* not-*tiśbaʿ* from-the-*haṭṭôḇāh* and-also-*qəḇûrāh* not-*hāyəṯāh* to-him, *ʾāmartî* *ṭôḇ* from-him the-*hannāp̄el*.", "grammar": { "*yôlîd*": "verb, Hiphil imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular - he begets", "*ʾîš*": "noun, masculine singular - man", "*šānîm*": "noun, feminine plural - years", "*rabbôṯ*": "adjective, feminine plural - many/numerous", "*yiḥyeh*": "verb, Qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular - he will live", "*šeyyihyû*": "relative conjunction + verb, Qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural - that they will be", "*yəmê-šānāyw*": "construct state: noun, masculine plural construct + noun, feminine plural + 3rd person masculine singular suffix - days of his years", "*nap̄šô*": "noun, feminine singular + 3rd person masculine singular suffix - his soul", "*tiśbaʿ*": "verb, Qal imperfect, 3rd person feminine singular - she is satisfied/filled", "*haṭṭôḇāh*": "definite article + noun, feminine singular - the good/goodness", "*qəḇûrāh*": "noun, feminine singular - burial/grave", "*hāyəṯāh*": "verb, Qal perfect, 3rd person feminine singular - she was/became", "*ʾāmartî*": "verb, Qal perfect, 1st person singular - I say/said", "*ṭôḇ*": "adjective, masculine singular - good/better", "*hannāp̄el*": "definite article + noun, masculine singular - the miscarriage/stillborn" }, "variants": { "*yôlîd*": "begets/fathers/brings forth", "*tiśbaʿ*": "is satisfied/is filled/has enough", "*haṭṭôḇāh*": "the good/the goodness/the prosperity", "*qəḇûrāh*": "burial/grave/tomb", "*ʾāmartî*": "I say/I declare/I pronounce", "*hannāp̄el*": "the miscarriage/the stillborn/the untimely birth" } }

• GT, oversatt fra hebraisk Aug2024

  Om en mann får hundre barn og lever mange år, hvor mange hans livsdager enn blir, men hans sjel er ikke tilfreds med det gode, og han heller ikke har gravferd, da sier jeg: Et utkastet foster har det bedre enn han.

• Original Norsk Bibel 1866

  Dersom en Mand avlede hundrede (Børn), og levede mange Aar, saa hans Aars Dage bleve mange, og hans Sjæl (dog) ikke mættede sig af det Gode, og han heller ingen Begravelse havde, — et utidigt Foster, siger jeg, er bedre end han.

• King James Version 1769 (Standard Version)

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

• KJV 1769 norsk

  Om en mann får hundre barn og lever mange år, slik at dagene i hans år blir mange, men hans sjel ikke finner glede, og han heller ikke får en begravelse, sier jeg at et tidlig født barn er bedre enn han.

• Norsk oversettelse av Webster

  Hvis en mann får hundre barn og lever mange år, slik at dagene i hans liv er mange, men hans sjel fylles ikke med godt, og han dessuten ikke får noen gravferd; sier jeg at et tidlig dødfødt barn er bedre enn han:

• Norsk oversettelse av Youngs Literal Translation

  Om en mann får hundre barn og lever mange år, men ikke finner glede, og han ikke får en grav, sier jeg: 'Bedre enn han er et dødfødt barn.'

• Norsk oversettelse av ASV1901

  Om en mann får hundre barn og lever mange år, slik at dagene hans er mange, men han ikke fylles med det gode, og dessuten ingen begravelse får; da sier jeg at en dødfødt er bedre enn han:

• Norsk oversettelse av BBE

  Om en mann har hundre barn, og lever lenge så hans år er mange, men hans sjel finner ingen glede i det gode, og han blir ikke æret ved sin død, sier jeg at en dødfødsel er bedre enn ham.

• Coverdale Bible (1535)

  Yf a man begett an hundreth children, and lyue many yeares, so that his dayes are many in nombre, and yet can not enioye his good, nether be buried: as for him I saye, that an vntymely byrth is better then he.

• Geneva Bible (1560)

  If a man beget an hundreth children and liue many yeeres, and the dayes of his yeeres be multiplied, & his soule be not satisfied with good things, and he be not buried, I say that an vntimely fruite is better then he.

• Bishops' Bible (1568)

  If a man beget a hundred children, and lyue many yeres, so that his dayes are many in number, and yet can not enioy his good, neither be buryed: as for him I say, that vntymely birth is better then he.

• Authorized King James Version (1611)

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

• Webster's Bible (1833)

  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 an untimely birth is better than he:

• Young's Literal Translation (1862/1898)

  If a man doth beget a hundred, and live many years, and is great, because they are the days of his years, and his soul is not satisfied from the goodness, and also he hath not had a grave, I have said, `Better than he `is' the untimely birth.'

• American Standard Version (1901)

  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:

• Bible in Basic English (1941)

  If a man has a hundred children, and his life is long so that the days of his years are great in number, but his soul takes no pleasure in good, and he is not honoured at his death; I say that a birth before its time is better than he.

• World English Bible (2000)

  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:

• NET Bible® (New English Translation)

  Even if a man fathers a hundred children and lives many years– even if he lives a long, long time, but cannot enjoy his prosperity– even if he were to live forever– I would say,“A stillborn child is better off than he is!”

Referenced Verses

• Job 3:16 : 16 Or as a hidden untimely birth I would not have existed; like infants who never saw light.
• Eccl 4:3 : 3 Yes, better is he than both, who has not yet been, who has not seen the evil work that is done under the sun.
• Jer 22:19 : 19 He shall be buried with the burial of a donkey, drawn and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem.
• 2 Kgs 9:35 : 35 And they went to bury her: but they found no more of her than the skull, and the feet, and the palms of her hands.
• Isa 14:19-20 : 19 But you are cast out of your grave like an abominable branch, and as the raiment of those that are slain, thrust through with a sword, that go down to the stones of the pit; like a carcass trodden under foot. 20 You will not be joined with them in burial, because you have destroyed your land, and slain your people: the seed of evildoers will never be renowned.
• Gen 47:9 : 9 And Jacob said to Pharaoh, The days of the years of my pilgrimage are one hundred and thirty years: few and evil have the days of the years of my life been, and have not attained to the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage.
• 1 Sam 2:20-21 : 20 And Eli blessed Elkanah and his wife, and said, The LORD give you descendants from this woman for the loan which is lent to the LORD. And they went to their own home. 21 And the LORD visited Hannah, so that she conceived and bore three sons and two daughters. And the child Samuel grew before the LORD.
• Eccl 5:17-19 : 17 All his days he also eats in darkness, and he has much sorrow and wrath with his sickness. 18 Behold, what I have seen: it is good and fitting for one to eat and drink, and to enjoy the good of all his labor in which he toils under the sun all the days of his life, which God gives him; for it is his portion. 19 Every man also to whom God has given riches and wealth, and has given him power to eat of it, to receive his portion, and to rejoice in his labor—this is the gift of God.
• Jer 8:2 : 2 And they will spread them before the sun, the moon, and all the host of heaven, whom they have loved, whom they have served, after whom they have walked, whom they have sought, and whom they have worshipped. They will not be gathered nor buried; they will be dung upon the face of the earth.
• Jer 36:30 : 30 Therefore thus says the LORD of Jehoiakim king of Judah: He shall have none to sit upon the throne of David, and his dead body shall be cast out in the day to the heat, and in the night to the frost.
• Matt 26:24 : 24 The Son of Man goes as it is written about him: but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! it would have been good for that man if he had not been born.
• 2 Kgs 10:1 : 1 And Ahab had seventy sons in Samaria. And Jehu wrote letters, and sent them to Samaria, to the rulers of Jezreel, to the elders, and to those who raised Ahab's children, saying,
• 1 Chr 28:5 : 5 And of all my sons, (for the LORD has given me many sons,) he has chosen Solomon my son to sit upon the throne of the kingdom of the LORD over Israel.
• 2 Chr 11:21 : 21 Rehoboam loved Maachah the daughter of Absalom more than all his wives and concubines (for he took eighteen wives and sixty concubines, and begat twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters).
• Esth 5:11 : 11 And Haman told them of the glory of his riches, the multitude of his children, and all the things wherein the king had promoted him, and how he had advanced him above the princes and servants of the king.
• Esth 7:10 : 10 So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the king's anger subsided.
• Esth 9:14-15 : 14 And the king commanded it to be done: and the decree was given at Shushan; and they hanged Haman's ten sons. 15 For the Jews who were in Shushan gathered themselves together on the fourteenth day also of the month Adar, and killed three hundred men at Shushan; but on the plunder they did not lay their hands.
• Ps 58:8 : 8 As a snail that melts, let every one of them pass away: like the untimely birth of a woman, that they may not see the sun.
• Ps 127:4-5 : 4 As arrows are in the hand of a mighty warrior, so are the children of one's youth. 5 Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them; they shall not be ashamed, but shall speak with their enemies in the gate.
• Prov 17:6 : 6 Children's children are the crown of old men, and the glory of children is their fathers.
• Gen 33:5 : 5 And he lifted up his eyes and saw the women and the children; and said, Who are those with you? And he said, The children whom God has graciously given your servant.