Ecclesiastes 6:3

New Living Translation

A man might have a hundred children and live to be very old. But if he finds no satisfaction in life and doesn’t even get a decent burial, it would have been better for him to be born dead.

Cross References

Genesis 33:5

Then Esau looked at the women and children and asked, “Who are these people with you?” “These are the children God has graciously given to me, your servant,” Jacob replied.

Genesis 47:9

Jacob replied, “I have traveled this earth for 130 hard years. But my life has been short compared to the lives of my ancestors.”

2 Kings 10:1

Ahab had seventy sons living in the city of Samaria. So Jehu wrote letters and sent them to Samaria, to the elders and officials of the city, and to the guardians of King Ahab’s sons. He said,

2 Kings 9:35

But when they went out to bury her, they found only her skull, her feet, and her hands.

1 Chronicles 28:5

And from among my sons—for the Lord has given me many—he chose Solomon to succeed me on the throne of Israel and to rule over the Lord’s kingdom.

2 Chronicles 11:21

Rehoboam loved Maacah more than any of his other wives and concubines. In all, he had eighteen wives and sixty concubines, and they gave birth to twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters.

Esther 5:11

and boasted to them about his great wealth and his many children. He bragged about the honors the king had given him and how he had been promoted over all the other nobles and officials.

Esther 7:10

So they impaled Haman on the pole he had set up for Mordecai, and the king’s anger subsided.

Job 3:11

“Why wasn’t I born dead? Why didn’t I die as I came from the womb?

Job 3:16

Why wasn’t I buried like a stillborn child, like a baby who never lives to see the light?

Psalm 58:8

May they be like snails that dissolve into slime, like a stillborn child who will never see the sun.

Proverbs 17:6

Grandchildren are the crowning glory of the aged; parents are the pride of their children.

Ecclesiastes 4:3

But most fortunate of all are those who are not yet born. For they have not seen all the evil that is done under the sun.

Ecclesiastes 6:4

His birth would have been meaningless, and he would have ended in darkness. He wouldn’t even have had a name,

Jeremiah 22:19

He will be buried like a dead donkey— dragged out of Jerusalem and dumped outside the gates!

Jeremiah 36:30

Now this is what the Lord says about King Jehoiakim of Judah: He will have no heirs to sit on the throne of David. His dead body will be thrown out to lie unburied—exposed to the heat of the day and the frost of the night.

Jeremiah 8:2

They will spread out their bones on the ground before the sun, moon, and stars—the gods my people have loved, served, and worshiped. Their bones will not be gathered up again or buried but will be scattered on the ground like manure.

Matthew 26:24

For the Son of Man must die, as the Scriptures declared long ago. But how terrible it will be for the one who betrays him. It would be far better for that man if he had never been born!”