Ecclesiastes 4:1

Easy To Read Version

Again I saw that many people are treated badly. I saw their tears. And I saw that there was no one to comfort those sad people. I saw cruel people had all the power. And I saw that there was no one to comfort the people they hurt.

Cross References

Job 16:4

I also could say the same things you say,\par if you had my troubles.\par I could say wise things against you\par and shake my head at you.\par

Job 35:9

“If \{bad\} people are being hurt,\par then they will cry out for help.\par They go to powerful people\par and beg them to help them.\par

Job 6:29

So now, change your mind.\par Don’t be unfair, think again.\par I have done nothing wrong.\par

Job 9:24

When an evil man takes control of a land,\par does God keep the leaders\par from seeing what is happening?\par If that is true,\par then who is God anyway?\par

Psalm 12:5

But the Lord says:\par “Bad people stole from the poor people.\par They took things from helpless people.\par But now I will stand and defend those weary (tired) people.”\par

Psalm 142:4

I look around,\par and I don’t see any of my friends.\par I have no place to run.\par No person is trying to save me.\par

Psalm 142:5

So I cry to the Lord for help.\par Lord, you are my place of safety.\par Lord, you can let me continue to live.\par

Psalm 42:3

My enemy constantly \{makes fun of me\}.\par He says, “Where is your God?\par \{Has he come to save you yet?\}”\par \{I am so sad\} that my only food\par is the tears \{that fall from my eyes\}.\par

Psalm 42:9

I speak to God, my Rock, {\cf2\super [263]} I say,\par “Lord, why did you forget me?\par Why must I suffer such sadness\par because of the cruelty of my enemy?”\par

Psalm 69:20

The shame has crushed me!\par I am about to die from shame.\par I waited for sympathy,\par but none could be found.\par I waited for some person to comfort me,\par but no person came.\par

Psalm 69:21

They gave me poison, not food.\par They gave me vinegar, not wine.\par

Psalm 80:5

You have given tears as food to your people.\par You have given your people bowls\par filled with their tears.\par That was their water to drink.\par

Exodus 1:16

The king said, “You will continue to help the Hebrew [2] women give birth to their children. If a girl baby is born, then let the baby live. But if the baby is a boy, then you must kill him!”

Exodus 1:22

So Pharaoh [5] gave this command to his own people: “Let all the girl babies live. But every time a {Hebrew} boy baby is born, you must throw him into the Nile River.”

Proverbs 19:7

If a person is poor, then even his family is against him. And all of his friends turn away from him. That poor person can beg them for help. But they will not go near him.

Proverbs 28:3

If a ruler makes trouble for poor people, he is like a hard rain that destroys the crops.

Proverbs 29:2

When the ruler is a good person, then all the people are happy. But when an evil person rules, then all the people complain.

Ecclesiastes 3:16

I also saw these things in this life. {\cf2\super [18]} I saw that the courts should be filled with goodness and fairness—but there is evil there now.

Ecclesiastes 5:8

In some country you might see poor people that are forced to work very hard. You might see that this is not fair to the poor people. It is against the rights of the poor people. But don’t be surprised! The ruler that forces those people to work has another ruler that forces him. And there is still another ruler that forces both of these rulers.

Ecclesiastes 7:7

Even a wise man will forget his wisdom,\par if someone pays him enough money.\par That money destroys his understanding.\par

Ecclesiastes 8:9

I saw all those things. I thought very hard about the things that happen in this world. And I saw that people always struggle for the power to rule other people. And this is bad for them.

Isaiah 5:7

The field of grapes that belongs to the Lord All-Powerful is the nation of Israel. The grapevine—the plant the Lord loves—is the man of Judah. {\cf2\super [48]}

Isaiah 51:23

I will now use my anger to punish the people that hurt you. Those people tried to kill you. They told you, ‘Bow down before us, and we will walk on you!’ They forced you to bow down before them. And then they walked on your back like dirt. You were like a road for them to walk on.”

Isaiah 59:7

Those people use their feet to run to evil. They hurry to kill people that have done nothing wrong. They think evil thoughts. Rioting and stealing is their way of living.

Jeremiah 16:7

No person will bring food to the people that are crying for the dead. No person will comfort those people whose mother or father has died. No person will offer a drink to comfort the people that are crying for the dead.

Lamentations 1:16

“I cry about all these things.\par My eyes, my eyes run down with water.\par There is no comforter near me.\par There is no person that can make me feel better.\par My children are like a wasteland.\par They are like that because the enemy won.”\par

Lamentations 1:17

Zion {\cf2\super [6]} spread out her hands.\par There was no person to comfort her.\par The Lord had given orders to Jacob’s {\cf2\super [7]} enemies.\par The Lord ordered Jacob’s enemies\par to surround the city.\par Jerusalem has become something dirty.\par She is something dirty among those enemies.\par

Lamentations 1:2

She cries bitterly in the night.\par Her tears are on her cheeks.\par She has no one to comfort her.\par Many nations were friendly to her.\par But none of them comforts her now.\par All of her friends turned their backs on her.\par Her friends became her enemies.\par

Lamentations 1:9

Jerusalem’s skirts became dirty.\par She didn’t think about the things\par that would happen to her.\par Her fall was amazing.\par She had no person to comfort her.\par She says,\par “Lord, see how I am hurt!\par See how my enemy thinks he is so great!”\par

Malachi 2:13

You can cry and cover the Lord’s altar with tears, but the Lord will not accept your gifts. The Lord will not be pleased with the things you bring to him.

Malachi 3:5

Then I will come to you—and I will do the right thing. I will be like a person that is ready to tell the judge about the bad things people did. Some people do evil magic. Some people do the sin of adultery. {\cf2\super [19]} Some people make false promises. Some people cheat their workers—they don’t pay them the money they promised. People don’t help widows and orphans. {\cf2\super [20]} People don’t help strangers. People don’t respect me!” The Lord All-Powerful said these things.

Matthew 26:56

But all these things have happened so that it will be like the prophets {\cf2\super [412]} wrote.” Then all of Jesus’ followers left him and ran away.

Deuteronomy 28:33

“A nation that you don’t know will take all your crops and all the things you worked for. People will treat you badly and abuse you.

Deuteronomy 28:48

So you will serve the enemies that the Lord will send against you. You will be hungry, thirsty, naked, and poor. The Lord will put a load on you that can’t be removed. You will carry that load until he destroys you. [186]

James 5:4

People worked in your fields, but you did not pay them. Those people are crying out against you. Those people harvested your crops. Now the Lord (God) of heaven’s armies {\cf2\super [24]} has heard the things they are shouting.

Judges 4:3

Sisera had 900 iron chariots, and he was very cruel to the people of Israel for 20 years. So they cried to the Lord for help.