3 A man may father a hundred children and live for many years; yet no matter how long he lives, if he is unsatisfied with his prosperity and does not even receive a proper burial, I say that a stillborn child is better off than he. 4 For a stillborn child enters in futility and departs in darkness, and his name is shrouded in obscurity. 5 The child, though neither seeing the sun nor knowing anything, has more rest than that man,
Ecclesiastes 6:3–5
Semantically similar passages
Ecclesiastes 4:2–4
2 So I admired the dead, who had already died, above the living, who are still alive. 3 But better than both is he who has not yet existed, who has not seen the evil that is done under the sun. 4 I saw that all labor and success spring from a man’s envy of his neighb…
Psalms 49:18–20
18 Though in his lifetime he blesses his soul— and men praise you when you prosper— 19 he will join the generation of his fathers, who will never see the light of day. 20 A man who has riches without understanding is like the beasts that perish.
Job 3:15–17
15 or with princes who had gold, who filled their houses with silver. 16 Or why was I not hidden like a stillborn child, like an infant who never sees daylight? 17 There the wicked cease from raging, and there the weary find rest.
Proverbs 17:20–22
20 The one with a perverse heart finds no good, and he whose tongue is deceitful falls into trouble. 21 A man fathers a fool to his own grief; the father of a fool has no joy. 22 A joyful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit dries up the bones.
Ecclesiastes 5:14–16
14 or wealth lost in a failed venture, so when that man has a son there is nothing to pass on. 15 As a man came from his mother’s womb, so he will depart again, naked as he arrived. He takes nothing for his labor to carry in his hands. 16 This too is a grievous evil: Ex…
2 Baruch 10:6–7
6 'Blessed is he who was not born, Or he, who having been born, has died. (2BA) 7 But as for us who live, woe unto us, Because we see the afflictions of Zion, And what has befallen Jerusalem. (2BA)
1 Clement 30:4–6
4 For He saith, He that saith much shall hear also again. Doth the ready talker think to be righteous? (1CL) 5 Blessed is the offspring of a woman that liveth but a short time. Be not thou abundant in words . (1CL) 6 Let our praise be with God, and not of ourselves: for God hate… (1CL)
Sirach 28:20–22
20 For its yoke is a yoke of iron, and its bands are bands of brass. (WEB) 21 Its death is an evil death, and Hades is better than it. (WEB) 22 It will not have rule over godly men. They will not be burned in its flame. (WEB)
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