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Kretzmann's Popular Commentary

Ecclesiastes 4:2

Wherefore I praised the dead which are already dead, and thus beyond the reach of tyranny and oppression, more than the living which are yet alive, and therefore always in danger of becoming victims of violence.

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See also Ecclesiastes 4:2 in other biblical comments:

  • Adam Clarke Bible Commentary

    Verse Ecclesiastes 4:2. _WHEREFORE I PRAISED THE DEAD_] I considered those happy who had escaped from the pilgrimage of life to the place where the wicked cease from troubling, and where the weary are...

  • Annotated Bible by A.C. Gaebelein

    CHAPTER 4 OBSERVATIONS OF DIFFERENT WRONGS _ 1. Concerning oppressions (Ecclesiastes 4:1)_ 2. Concerning envy of fools and the rich (Ecclesiastes 4:4) 3. Concerning the miser (Ecclesiast

  • Arthur Peake's Commentary on the Bible

    ECCLESIASTES 4. A GLOOMY SURVEY. The chapter falls into four parts, which treat respectively of oppression (Ecclesiastes 4:1), rivalry (Ecclesiastes 4:4), isolation amounting to self-torture (Ecclesia...

  • Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes

    PRAISED. commended, or pronounced happy. Hebrew. _sliabach,_ used only by David and Solomon....

  • College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

    C. GUIDELINES FOR WORKING WITH GOD UNDER ALL CIRCUMSTANCES Ecclesiastes 4:1-16 1. How to work under oppression Ecclesiastes 4:1-3 TEXT 4:1-3 1 Then I looked again at all the acts of oppression whic...

  • Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

    Wherefore I praised the dead which are already dead more than the living which are yet alive. WHEREFORE I PRAISED THE DEAD WHICH ARE ALREADY DEAD, MORE THAN THE LIVING. A profane sentiment if sever...

  • Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible

    VICISSITUDES OF LIFE. 'OH, THE PITY OF IT!' 1-3. The mass of human suffering and the absence of pity are such that better off are the dead and still more the unborn. It is not only through God's ord...

  • EasyEnglish Bible Commentaries

    THE TEACHER SEARCHES FOR THE PURPOSE OF OUR LIVES BOOK OF ECCLESIASTES _HILDA BRIGHT AND KITTY PRIDE_ CHAPTER 4 This chapter contains several subjects. 1. PEOPLE WHO SUFFER – ECCLESIASTES 4:1-...

  • Ellicott's Commentary On The Whole Bible

    I PRAISED THE DEAD. — Job 3:11; Exodus 32:32; 1 Kings 19:4; Jeremiah 20:14; Jon

  • ETCBC data on Hebrew bible

    וְ שַׁבֵּ֧חַ אֲנִ֛י אֶת ־הַ מֵּתִ֖ים שֶׁ

  • Expositor's Bible Commentary (Nicoll)

    AND BY HUMAN INJUSTICE AND PERVERSITY. Ecclesiastes 3:16; Ecclesiastes 4:1 But not only are our endeavours to find the "good" of our labours thwarted by the gracious, inflexible laws of the just God...

  • Expositor's Bible Commentary (Nicoll)

    SECOND SECTION The Quest Of The Chief Good In Devotion To The Affairs Of Business Ecclesiastes 3:1 - Ecclesiastes 5:20 I. IF the true Good is not to be found in the School where Wisdom utters her vo...

  • G. Campbell Morgan's Exposition on the Whole Bible

    From this general survey the preacher returned to examine the condition of the beings whom he had described as being no better than the beasts. He looked out upon them, and saw them in suffering, and...

  • Geneva Study Bible Commentary

    Wherefore I praised the (b) dead who are already dead more than the living who are yet alive. (b) Because they are no longer subject to these oppressions....

  • Hawker's Poor man's commentary

    Wherefore I praised the dead which are already dead more than the living which are yet alive. Solomon was not singular in this opinion: a voice from heaven proclaimed the same, Revelation 14:13. But,...

  • John Darby's Synopsis

    THE FOLLOWING COMMENTARY COVERS CHAPTER S 1 THROUGH 12. The Book of Ecclesiastes is, up to a certain point, the converse of the Book of Proverbs. (see NOTE TO PROVERBS below) It is the experience of a...

  • John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

    WHEREFORE I PRAISED THE DEAD, WHICH ARE ALREADY DEAD,.... Truly and properly so; not in a figurative sense, as dead sinners, men dead in trespasses and sins; nor carnal professors, that have a name to...

  • John Trapp Complete Commentary

    Wherefore I praised the dead which are already dead more than the living which are yet alive. Ver. 2. _Wherefore I praised the dead._] Because they are out of the reach of wrong doers; and if dead in...

  • Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

    _Wherefore I praised the dead_, &c. I judged them less miserable. For this is certain, that setting aside the future life, which Solomon doth not meddle with in the present debate, and considering the...

  • Mark Dunagan Commentaries

    "SO. CONGRATULATED THE DEAD WHO ARE ALREADY DEAD MORE THAN THE LIVING WHO ARE STILL LIVING....

  • Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible

    1-3 It grieved Solomon to see might prevail against right. Wherever we turn, we see melancholy proofs of the wickedness and misery of mankind, who try to create trouble to themselves and to each othe...

  • Matthew Poole's Concise Commentary On The Bible

    I PRAISED; I judged them more happy, or less miserable; which he seems to deliver not only as the judgment of the flesh, or of the sense, or of men in misery, as this is commonly understood, but as hi...

  • Patchworkid's Personal Study Bible Notes

    Ecclesiastes 4:2 praised H7623 (H8764) dead H4191 (H8801) already H3528 dead H4191 (H8804) living H2416 still

  • Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible

    CHAPTER 4 THE DREADFULNESS OF OPPRESSION. GUIDANCE ON LIVING. This chapter begins with considering the dreadfulness of oppression and then continues with thoughts on living, giving both good and bad...

  • Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible

    THE DREADFULNESS OF OPPRESSION (ECCLESIASTES 4:1). Having been faced up to the injustice in the world, and especially the injustice in its courts of justice, the Preacher now turns to consider oppres...

  • Sermon Bible Commentary

    Ecclesiastes 3:1 A profound gloom rests on the second act or section of this drama. It teaches us that we are helpless in the iron grip of laws which we had no voice in making; that we often lie at th...

  • Summarized Bible Commentary

    CONTENTS: Discontent and impatience because of the oppressions and iniquities of life. CHARACTERS: Solomon. CONCLUSION: The world is full of trouble. By reason of man's perversity, he is ever distur...

  • Sutcliffe's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

    Ecclesiastes 4:2. _Wherefore I praised the dead more than the living,_ who are robbed, fleeced, and exposed to incessant afflictions, from oppression and war. Solomon alludes to extreme cases, such as...

  • The Biblical Illustrator

    _Wherefore I praised the dead which are already dead more than the living which are yet alive._ THE APPLAUSE OF THE DEAD REGULATED, VINDICATED AND IMPROVED Scripture itself sets us an example of app...

  • The ESV Global Study Bible's Study Notes

    ECCLESIASTES—NOTE ON ECCLESIASTES 4:2 Some people’s circumstances are so tragic that they welcome death. The Preacher considers those who have not yet lived to be the most fortunate. This is because t...

  • The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary

    CRITICAL NOTES.— ECCLESIASTES 4:1. SO I RETURNED.] Passing from the reflections of the last chapter to a new subject of contemplation. _They had no comforter_. The repetition of this phrase is intend...

  • The Pulpit Commentaries

    EXPOSITION ECCLESIASTES 4:1 Section 5. Koheleth proceeds to give further illustrations of _man_'_s inability to be the architect of his own happiness_._ _There are many things which interrupt or des...

  • Through The Bible C2000 Serie by Chuck Smith

    So I returned, and I considered all of the oppressions that are done under the sun: and the tears of those that are oppressed, and they had no comforter; and on the side of their oppressors there was...

  • Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

    Ecclesiastes 2:17; Ecclesiastes 9:4; Job 3:17...

  • Wesley's Explanatory Notes

    I praised — I judged them less miserable. For this is certain, that setting aside the future life, which Solomon doth not meddle with in the present debate; and considering the uncertainty, and vanity...

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