Ecclesiastes 4:2-4

New American Standard Bible 1995

²So ^(A)I congratulated the dead who are already dead more than the living who are still living. ³But ^(B)better off than both of them is the one who has never existed, who has never seen the evil activity that is done under the sun.

⁴I have seen that every labor and every ^(C)skill which is done is the result of rivalry between a man and his neighbor. This too is ^[a]^(D)vanity and striving after wind.

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Footnotes

Ecclesiastes 4:4 Or futility, and so throughout the ch

Ecclesiastes 4:2-4

New International Version

²And I declared that the dead,^(A)
    who had already died,
are happier than the living,
    who are still alive.^(B)
³But better than both
    is the one who has never been born,^(C)
who has not seen the evil
    that is done under the sun.^(D)