Then I returned and saw 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 that have been long dead more than the living that are yet alive;
yea, {Or, better than they both is he that &c.}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.
Then I saw all labor and every {Or, successful}skilful work, that {Or, it cometh of a man's rivalry with his neighbor}for this a man is envied of his neighbor. This also is vanity and a striving after wind.
The fool foldeth his hands together, and eateth his own flesh.
Better is a handful, {Or, of}with quietness, than two handfuls {Or, of}with labor and striving after wind.
Then I returned and saw vanity under the sun.
There 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.
Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor.
For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow; but woe to him that is alone when he falleth, and hath not another to lift him up.
Again, if two lie together, then they have warmth; but how can one be warm alone?
And if a man prevail against him that is alone, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken.
Better is a poor and wise youth than an old and foolish king, who knoweth not how to receive admonition any more.
For out of prison he came forth to be king; yea, even in his kingdom he was born poor.
I saw all the living that walk under the sun, that they were with the youth, the second, that stood up in his stead.
{Or, There is no end, in the mind of all the people, to all that hath been before them; they also &c.}There 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.
Querverweise zu Prediger 4,1 Pred 4,1
Return, I pray you, let there be no injustice;Yea, return again, {Hebrew: my righteousness is in it.}my cause is righteous.
And 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.
My tears have been my food day and night,While they {Hebrew: all the day.}continually say unto me, Where is thy God?
I also could speak as ye do;If your soul were in my soul's stead,I could join words together against you,And shake my head at you.
Then shall ye return and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not. {[Chapter 3:19 in Hebrew]}
If thou seest the oppression of the poor, and the violent taking away of justice and righteousness in {Or, the state}a province, marvel not at the matter: for one higher than the high regardeth; and there are higher than they.
I will say unto God my rock, Why hast thou forgotten me?Why go I mourning {Or, while the enemy oppresseth}because of the oppression of the enemy?
Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, O ye my friends;For the hand of God hath touched me.
{Or, For}Surely extortion maketh the wise man foolish; and a bribe destroyeth the understanding.
Thou hast fed them with the bread of tears,And given them tears to drink in large measure.
Why do ye persecute me as God,And are not satisfied with my flesh?
And the Egyptians made the children of Israel to serve with rigor:
Mine enemies reproach me all the day;They that are mad against me do curse by me.
Reproach hath broken my heart; and I am {Or, sore sick}full of heaviness:And I looked for some to take pity, but there was none;And for comforters, but I found none.
and they made their lives bitter with hard service, in mortar and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field, all their service, wherein they made them serve with rigor.
For I have eaten ashes like bread,And mingled my drink with weeping,
Look on my right hand, and see;For there is no man that knoweth me:Refuge hath failed me;No man careth for my soul.
and he said, When ye do the office of a midwife to the Hebrew women, and see them upon the birth-stool; if it be a son, then ye shall kill him; but if it be a daughter, then she shall live.
And this {Or, a second time}again ye do: ye cover the altar of Jehovah with tears, with weeping, and with sighing, insomuch that he regardeth not the offering any more, neither receiveth it with good will at your hand.
All the brethren of the poor do hate him:How much more do his friends go far from him! {Or, he pursueth after words, which are nought}He pursueth them with words, but they are gone.
And Pharaoh charged all his people, saying, Every son that is born ye shall cast into the river, and every daughter ye shall save alive.
Behold, the hire of the laborers who mowed your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth out: and the cries of them that reaped have entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth.
She weepeth sore in the night, and her tears are on her cheeks;Among all her lovers she hath none to comfort her:All her friends have dealt treacherously with her; they are become her enemies.
And it came to pass in the course of those many days, that the king of Egypt died: and the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up unto God by reason of the bondage.
Her filthiness was in her skirts; she remembered not her latter end;Therefore is she come down wonderfully; she hath no comforter:Behold, O Jehovah, my affliction; for the enemy hath magnified himself.
And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.
But all this is come to pass, that the scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled. Then all the disciples left him, and fled.
There is no straw given unto thy servants, and they say to us, Make brick: and, behold, thy servants are beaten; but the fault it in thine own people.
But he said, Ye are idle, ye are idle: therefore ye say, Let us go and sacrifice to Jehovah.
Go therefore now, and work; for there shall no straw be given you, yet shall ye deliver the number of bricks.
And the officers of the children of Israel did see that they {Or, were set on mischief, when they said}were in evil case, when it was said, Ye shall not diminish aught from your bricks, your daily tasks.
At my first defence no one took my part, but all forsook me: may it not be laid to their account.
The fruit of thy ground, and all thy labors, shall a nation which thou knowest not eat up; and thou shalt be only oppressed and crushed alway;
But the Lord stood by me, and {Or, gave me power}strengthened me; that through me the {Or, proclamation}message might be fully proclaimed, and that all the Gentiles might hear: and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion.
therefore shalt thou serve thine enemies that Jehovah shall send against thee, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in want of all things: and he shall put a yoke of iron upon thy neck, until he have destroyed thee.
And the children of Israel cried unto Jehovah: for he had nine hundred chariots of iron; and twenty years he mightily oppressed the children of Israel.
And the anger of Jehovah was kindled against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of the Philistines, and into the hand of the children of Ammon.
And they vexed 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.
Then there arose a great cry of the people and of their wives against their brethren the Jews.
For there were that said, We, our sons and our daughters, are many: let us get grain, that we may eat and live.
Some also there were that said, We are mortgaging our fields, and our vineyards, and our houses: let us get grain, because of the dearth.
There were also that said, We have borrowed money for the king's tribute upon our fields and our vineyards.
Yet now our flesh is as the flesh of our brethren, our children as their children: and, lo, we bring into bondage our sons and our daughters to be servants, and some of our daughters are brought into bondage already: neither is it in our power to help it; for other men have our fields and our vineyards.
They lie all night naked without clothing,And have no covering in the cold.
They are wet with the showers of the mountains,And embrace the rock for want of a shelter.
There are that pluck the fatherless from the breast,And {Or, take in pledge that which is on the poor}take a pledge of the poor;
So that they go about naked without clothing,And being hungry they carry the sheaves.
They make oil within the walls of these men;They tread their winepresses, and suffer thirst.
From out of the {Hebrew: city of men.}populous city men groan,And the soul of the wounded crieth out:Yet God regardeth not the folly.
He lurketh in secret as a lion in his covert;He lieth in wait to catch the poor:He doth catch the poor, when he draweth him in his net.
{Another reading is, And being crushed.}He croucheth, he boweth down,And the {Or, hapless}helpless fall by his strong ones.
A needy man that oppresseth the poorIs like a sweeping rain {Hebrew: without food.}which leaveth no food.
As a roaring lion, and a ranging bear,So is a wicked ruler over a poor people.
{Or, O prince that lackest understanding and art a great oppressor, He &c.}The prince that lacketh understanding is also a great oppressor;But he that hateth covetousness shall prolong his days.
For the vineyard of Jehovah of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah {Hebrew: the plant of his delight.}his pleasant plant: and he looked for justice, but, behold, {Or, shedding of blood}oppression; for righteousness, but, behold, a cry.
and I will put it into the hand of them that afflict thee, that have said to thy soul, Bow down, that we may go over; and thou hast laid thy back as the ground, and as the street, to them that go over.
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 {Or, highways}paths.
transgressing and denying Jehovah, and turning away from following our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood.
And justice is turned away backward, and righteousness standeth afar off; for truth is fallen in the street, and uprightness cannot enter.
Yea, truth is lacking; and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey.And Jehovah saw it, and it displeased him that there was no justice.
And 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 false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the sojourner from his right, and fear not me, saith Jehovah of hosts.