Ecclesiastes 6:3

New English Translation

Even if a man fathers a hundred children and lives many years – even if he lives a long, long time, but cannot enjoy his prosperity – even if he were to live forever – I would say, “A stillborn child is better off than he is!”

Cross References

Genesis 33:5

When Esau looked up and saw the women and the children, he asked, “Who are these people with you?” Jacob replied, “The children whom God has graciously given your servant.”

Genesis 47:9

Jacob said to Pharaoh, “All the years of my travels are 130. All the years of my life have been few and painful; the years of my travels are not as long as those of my ancestors.”

2 Kings 10:1

Ahab had seventy sons living in Samaria. So Jehu wrote letters and sent them to Samaria to the leading officials of Jezreel and to the guardians of Ahab’s dynasty. This is what the letters said,

2 Kings 9:35

But when they went to bury her, they found nothing left but the skull, feet, and palms of the hands.

1 Chronicles 28:5

From all the many sons the Lord has given me, he chose Solomon my son to rule on his behalf over Israel.

2 Chronicles 11:21

Rehoboam loved Maacah daughter of Absalom more than his other wives and concubines. He had eighteen wives and sixty concubines; he fathered twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters.

Esther 5:11

Haman then recounted to them his fabulous wealth, his many sons, and how the king had magnified him and exalted him over the king’s other officials and servants.

Esther 7:10

So they hanged Haman on the very gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. The king’s rage then abated.

Job 3:11

“Why did I not die at birth, and why did I not expire as I came out of the womb?

Job 3:16

Or why was I not buried like a stillborn infant, like infants who have never seen the light?

Psalm 58:8

Let them be like a snail that melts away as it moves along! Let them be like stillborn babies that never see the sun!

Proverbs 17:6

Grandchildren are like a crown to the elderly, and the glory of children is their parents.

Ecclesiastes 4:3

But better than both is the one who has not been born and has not seen the evil things that are done on earth.

Ecclesiastes 6:4

Though the stillborn child came into the world for no reason and departed into darkness, though its name is shrouded in darkness,

Jeremiah 22:19

He will be left unburied just like a dead donkey. His body will be dragged off and thrown outside the gates of Jerusalem.’”

Jeremiah 36:30

So the Lord says concerning King Jehoiakim of Judah, “None of his line will occupy the throne of David. His dead body will be thrown out to be exposed to scorching heat by day and frost by night.

Jeremiah 8:2

They will be spread out and exposed to the sun, the moon and the stars. These are things they adored and served, things to which they paid allegiance, from which they sought guidance, and worshiped. The bones of these people will never be regathered and reburied. They will be like manure used to fertilize the ground.

Matthew 26:24

The Son of Man will go as it is written about him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would be better for him if he had never been born.”