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 4,3 Pred 4,3
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:
for it cometh in vanity, and departeth in darkness, and the name thereof is covered with darkness;
moreover it hath not seen the sun {Or, neither had any knowledge}nor known it; {Or, it is better with this than with the other}this hath rest rather than the other:
I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and {Or, a feeding on wind (see Hosea 12:1) Or, vexation of spirit (and so elsewhere)}a striving after wind.
Because it shut not up the doors of my mother's womb,Nor hid trouble from mine eyes.
Why died I not from the womb?Why did I not give up the ghost when my mother bare me?
Why did the knees receive me?Or why the breast, that I should suck?
For now should I have lain down and been quiet;I should have slept; then had I been at rest,
With kings and counsellors of the earth,Who {Or, built solitary piles}built up waste places for themselves;
Or with princes that had gold,Who filled their houses with silver
Or as a hidden untimely birth I had not been,As infants that never saw light.
So I hated life, because the work that is wrought under the sun was grievous unto me; for all is vanity and a striving after wind.
Wherefore then hast thou brought me forth out of the womb?I had given up the ghost, and no eye had seen me.
And I said, Oh that I had wings like a dove!Then would I fly away, and be at rest.
Lo, then would I wander far off,I would lodge in the wilderness. [Selah
I would {Or, hasten my escape}haste me to a shelterFrom the stormy wind and tempest.
{Hebrew: Swallow up.}Destroy, O Lord, and divide their tongue;For I have seen violence and strife in the city.
Day and night they go about it upon the walls thereof:Iniquity also and mischief are in the midst of it.
Wickedness is in the midst thereof: {Or, Fraud}Oppression and guile depart not from its streets.
I should have been as though I had not been;I should have been carried from the womb to the grave.
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.
because he slew me not from the womb; and so my mother would have been my grave, and her womb always great.
And they bend their tongue, as it were their bow, for falsehood; and they are grown strong in the land, but not for {Or, faithfulness}truth: for they proceed from evil to evil, and they know not me, saith Jehovah.
Wherefore came I forth out of the womb to see labor and sorrow, that my days should be consumed with shame?
But woe unto them that are with child and to them that give suck in those days!
For behold, the days are coming, in which they shall say, Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bare, and the breasts that never gave suck.