Ecclesiastes 4:1 - New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition 2021

¹ Again I saw all the oppressions that are practiced under the sun. Look, the tears of the oppressed—with no one to comfort them! On the side of their oppressors there was power—with no one to comfort them.

More versions

King James Version (Oxford) 1769

¹ So I returned, and considered 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.

Amplified Bible - Classic Edition

¹ THEN I returned and considered all the oppressions that are practiced under the sun: And I beheld the tears of the oppressed, and they had no comforter; and on the side of their oppressors was power, but they [too] had no comforter.

American Standard Version (1901)

¹ 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.

Common English Bible

¹ When I next observed all the oppressions that take place under the sun, I saw the tears of the oppressed—and they have no one to comfort them. Their oppressors wield power—but they have no one to comfort them.

Catholic Public Domain Version

¹ I turned myself to other things, and I saw the false accusations which are carried out under the sun, and the tears of the innocent, and that there was no one to console them; and that they were not able to withstand their violence, being destitute of all help.

Douay-Rheims version of The Bible - 1752 version

¹ I turned myself to other things, and I saw the oppressions that are done under the sun, and the tears of the innocent, and they had no comforter; and they were not able to resist their violence, being destitute of help from any.

Ecclesiastes 4:1 Cross References

Job 16:4

I also could talk as you do, if you were in my place; I could join words together against you and shake my head at you.

Job 35:9

“Because of the multitude of oppressions people cry out; they call for help because of the arm of the mighty.

Job 6:29

Turn, I pray; let no wrong be done. Turn now; my vindication is at stake.

Job 9:24

The earth is given into the hand of the wicked; he covers the eyes of its judges— if it is not he, who then is it?

Psalm 12:5

“Because the poor are despoiled, because the needy groan, I will now rise up,” says the Lord; “I will place them in the safety for which they long.”

Psalm 142:4

Look on my right hand and see: there is no one who takes notice of me; no refuge remains to me; no one cares for me.

Psalm 142:5

I cry to you, O Lord; I say, “You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living.”

Psalm 42:3

My tears have been my food day and night, while people say to me continually, “Where is your God?”

Psalm 42:9

I say to God, my rock, “Why have you forgotten me? Why must I walk about mournfully because the enemy oppresses me?”

Psalm 69:20

Insults have broken my heart, so that I am in despair. I looked for pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none.

Psalm 69:21

They gave me poison for food, and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.

Psalm 80:5

You have fed them with the bread of tears and given them tears to drink in full measure.

Exodus 1:16

“When you act as midwives to the Hebrew women and see them on the birthstool, if it is a son, kill him, but if it is a daughter, she shall live.”

Exodus 1:22

Then Pharaoh commanded all his people, “Every son that is born to the Hebrews you shall throw into the Nile, but you shall let every daughter live.”

Proverbs 19:7

If the poor are hated even by their kin, how much more are they shunned by their friends! When they call after them, they are not there.

Proverbs 28:3

A poor person who oppresses the poor is a beating rain that leaves no food.

Proverbs 29:2

When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice, but when the wicked rule, the people groan.

Ecclesiastes 3:16

Moreover, I saw under the sun that, in the place of justice, wickedness was there, and in the place of righteousness, wickedness was there as well.

Ecclesiastes 5:8

If you see in a province the oppression of the poor and the violation of justice and right, do not be amazed at the matter, for the high official is watched by a higher, and there are yet higher ones over them.

Ecclesiastes 7:7

Surely oppression makes the wise foolish, and a bribe corrupts the heart.

Ecclesiastes 8:9

All this I observed, applying my mind to all that is done under the sun, while one person exercises authority over another to the other’s hurt.

Isaiah 5:7

For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the people of Judah are his cherished garden; he expected justice but saw bloodshed; righteousness but heard a cry!

Isaiah 51:23

And I will put it into the hand of your tormentors, who have said to you, “Bow down, that we may walk on you,” and you have made your back like the ground and like the street for them to walk on.

Isaiah 59:7

Their feet run to evil, and they rush to shed innocent blood; their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; desolation and destruction are in their highways.

Jeremiah 16:7

No one shall break bread for the mourner, to offer comfort for the dead, nor shall anyone give them the cup of consolation to drink for their fathers or their mothers.

Lamentations 1:16

For these things I weep; my eyes flow with tears; for a comforter is far from me, one to revive my courage; my children are desolate, for the enemy has prevailed.

Lamentations 1:17

Zion stretches out her hands, but there is no one to comfort her; the Lord has commanded against Jacob that his neighbors should become his foes; Jerusalem has become a filthy thing among them.

Lamentations 1:2

She weeps bitterly in the night, with tears on her cheeks; among all her lovers, she has no one to comfort her; all her friends have dealt treacherously with her; they have become her enemies.

Lamentations 1:9

Her uncleanness was in her skirts; she took no thought of her future; her downfall was appalling, with none to comfort her. Look, O Lord, at my affliction, for the enemy has triumphed!

Amos 3:10

They do not know how to do right, says the Lord, those who store up violence and robbery in their strongholds.

Amos 3:9

Proclaim to the strongholds in Ashdod and to the strongholds in the land of Egypt, and say, “Assemble yourselves on Mount Samaria, and see what great tumults are within it and what oppressions are in its midst.”

Malachi 2:13

And this you do as well: You cover the Lord’s altar with tears, with weeping and groaning because he no longer regards the offering or accepts it with favor at your hand.

Malachi 3:18

Then once more you shall see the difference between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve him.

Malachi 3:5

Then I will draw near to you for judgment; I will be swift to bear witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired workers in their wages, the widow, and the orphan, against those who thrust aside the alien and do not fear me, says the Lord of hosts.

Matthew 26:56

But all this has taken place, so that the scriptures of the prophets may be fulfilled.” Then all the disciples deserted him and fled.

Deuteronomy 28:33

A people whom you do not know shall eat up the fruit of your ground and of all your labors; you shall be continually abused and crushed

Deuteronomy 28:48

therefore you shall serve your enemies whom the Lord will send against you, in hunger and thirst, in nakedness and lack of everything. He will put an iron yoke on your neck until he has destroyed you.

James 5:4

Listen! The wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts.

Judges 4:3

Then the Israelites cried out to the Lord for help, for he had nine hundred chariots of iron and had oppressed the Israelites cruelly twenty years.