Ecclesiastes 4:1–3
"They had no comforter"
Qoheleth sees the tears of the oppressed and power on the side of the oppressors, and says twice "they had no comforter." The dead, and the unborn, seem better off. The witnesses agree. The question is how to read the bleakness: as protest, not as a recommendation.
Stable text: no manuscript differences in meaning
The family tree
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✓ contains this verse · ▢ pages lost · – no copy survives
- Same line, through lost copies
- Translation
Every witness, in order
Often dated 4th–3rd century BC (debated)
The book as first written
No original survives. The oldest Hebrew copies of Ecclesiastes are two Qumran fragments, 4Q109 (4QQoh-a, mid-2nd century BC, reported) and 4Q110 (4QQoh-b, reported).
Jerome c. AD 398, from Hebrew; edition 1592
Latin Vulgate (Clementine)
How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Clementine Vulgate (1592 edition).
Verti me ad alia, et vidi calumnias quæ sub sole geruntur, et lacrimas innocentium, et neminem consolatorem, nec posse resistere eorum violentiæ, cunctorum auxilio destitutos, et laudavi magis mortuos quam viventes; et feliciorem utroque judicavi qui necdum natus est, nec vidit mala quæ sub sole fiunt.
Latin numbering: Ecclesiastes 4:1–3. Jerome translated Ecclesiastes from Hebrew (c. AD 398), after writing a commentary on it (c. 388); the Vulgate is an indirect witness to a Hebrew text, with Jerome's interpretation.
AD 1008
Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)
How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Westminster Leningrad Codex, a digital transcription of the Leningrad Codex.
וְשַׁ֣בְתִּֽי אֲנִ֗י וָאֶרְאֶה֙ אֶת־כָּל־הָ֣עֲשֻׁקִ֔ים אֲשֶׁ֥ר נַעֲשִׂ֖ים תַּ֣חַת הַשָּׁ֑מֶשׁ וְהִנֵּ֣ה ׀ דִּמְעַ֣ת הָעֲשֻׁקִ֗ים וְאֵ֤ין לָהֶם֙ מְנַחֵ֔ם וּמִיַּ֤ד עֹֽשְׁקֵיהֶם֙ כֹּ֔חַ וְאֵ֥ין לָהֶ֖ם מְנַחֵֽם׃ וְשַׁבֵּ֧חַ אֲנִ֛י אֶת־הַמֵּתִ֖ים שֶׁכְּבָ֣ר מֵ֑תוּ מִן־הַ֣חַיִּ֔ים אֲשֶׁ֛ר הֵ֥מָּה חַיִּ֖ים עֲדֶֽנָה׃ וְטוֹב֙ מִשְּׁנֵיהֶ֔ם אֵ֥ת אֲשֶׁר־עֲדֶ֖ן לֹ֣א הָיָ֑ה אֲשֶׁ֤ר לֹֽא־רָאָה֙ אֶת־הַמַּעֲשֶׂ֣ה הָרָ֔ע אֲשֶׁ֥ר נַעֲשָׂ֖ה תַּ֥חַת הַשָּֽׁמֶשׁ׃
I saw all the oppressions done under the sun: the tears of the oppressed, and they had no comforter; from the hand of their oppressors, power, and they had no comforter
Hebrew numbering: Ecclesiastes 4:1–3.
1611
King James Bible
How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: King James Version (1769 text).
So I returned, and considered all the oppressions that are done under the sun: and behold the tears of such as were oppressed, and they had no comforter; and on the side of their oppressors there was power; but they had no comforter. Wherefore I praised the dead which are already dead more than the living which are yet alive. Yea, better is he than both they, which hath not yet been, who hath not seen the evil work that is done under the sun.
Greek translation c. 1st–2nd century AD (debated); French 1872
Greek Ecclesiastes (library: Giguet's French)
How the site knows this: Known here only through a translation.
Et je me suis retourné d’un autre côté, et j’ai vu toutes les oppressions qui se font sous le soleil. Et voilà les larmes de ceux qu’on a opprimés, et nul ne les console; et voilà la force des mains de ceux qui oppriment, et nul ne les console. Et j’ai félicité tous les morts, tous les trépassés plus que les vivants, quels que soient ceux qui maintenant existent. Plus heureux que les vivants et les morts, celui qui n’a jamais été; il n’a pas vu toute l’œuvre mauvaise qui se fait sous le soleil.
Greek (digital file) numbering: Ecclesiastes 4:1–3. Giguet's 1872 French of a printed Greek text (D check). A C check needs the Göttingen edition of Greek Ecclesiastes (P. J. Gentry, 2019).
What changed, and why
Oppression (ashuqim, oshqim) appears three times in verse 1. The repetition "no comforter" frames power and powerlessness. The text names no oppressor and no event; historical settings (Persian tribute, Ptolemaic tax-farming, earlier royal exploitation) can illustrate it but cannot be proven from it.
Verses 2–3 belong with other biblical cries of extremity (Job 3; Jeremiah 20:14–18). They voice how injustice looks to someone who sees it clearly, not a teaching that death is good.
Compare Lamentations 1, where "none to comfort her" (ein menachem) recurs five times about Jerusalem: the same phrase.
What the evidence shows
- The witnesses agree on 4:1–3.
- 4:1 refers to a particular historical oppression. No event is named.
- Ecclesiastes 4:2–3 recommends death. Rhetoric of protest.
Sources
Related lessons
- Ecclesiastes 4: Two Are Better Than One →Qoheleth sees the tears of the oppressed, power on the side of the oppressors, and "they had no comforter" (4:1); the dead seem better off, and the unborn best of all (vv. 2–3). He sees that much skilled work springs from envy (v. 4); the fool folds his hands and starves (v. 5), but "better is an handful with quietness, than both the hands full with travail" (v. 6). A man alone with no son or brother toils without end and never asks for whom (vv. 7–8). "Two are better than one": they help, warm and defend each other, "and a threefold cord is not quickly broken" (vv. 9–12). Finally, a poor wise youth is better than an old foolish king, yet the crowds who follow the young king will forget him too (vv. 13–16).
- Investigation: Injustice Under the Sun →Ecclesiastes looks at injustice more directly than any other wisdom book: wickedness in the courts, tears of the oppressed with no comforter, layers of officials, the righteous perishing and the wicked praised, the poor wise man forgotten, fools in high places. It holds three things in tension: what Qoheleth sees, what he believes about God's judgment, and the limits of human knowledge.