2 And I declared that the dead, who had already died, are happier than the living, who are still alive.
2 Wherefore I praised the dead which are already dead more than the living which are yet alive.
2 And I thought the dead who are already dead more fortunate than the living who are still alive.
2 So I congratulated the dead who are already dead instead of the living who are still alive.
2 Therefore I praised the dead who were already dead, More than the living who are still alive.
2 So I concluded that the dead are better off than the living.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Ecclesiastes 4:2
Commentary on Ecclesiastes 4:1-3
(Read Ecclesiastes 4:1-3)
It grieved Solomon to see might prevail against right. Wherever we turn, we see melancholy proofs of the wickedness and misery of mankind, who try to create trouble to themselves and to each other. Being thus hardly used, men are tempted to hate and despise life. But a good man, though badly off while in this world, cannot have cause to wish he had never been born, since he is glorifying the Lord, even in the fires, and will be happy at last, for ever happy. Ungodly men have most cause to wish the continuance of life with all its vexations, as a far more miserable condition awaits them if they die in their sins. If human and worldly things were our chief good, not to exist would be preferable to life, considering the various oppressions here below.