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Selected Verse: Ecclesiates 4:4 - King James
| Verse |
Translation |
Text |
| Ec 4:4 |
King James |
Again, I considered all travail, and every right work, that for this a man is envied of his neighbour. This is also vanity and vexation of spirit. |
Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse
| A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882] |
| right--rather, "prosperous" (see on Ecc 2:21). Prosperity, which men so much covet, is the very source of provoking oppression (Ecc 4:1) and "envy," so far is it from constituting the chief good. |
| Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834] |
Every right work - Rather, every success in work.
For this ... - i. e., "This successful work makes the worker an object of envy." Some understand the meaning to be, "this work is the effect of the rivalry of man with his neighbor." |
| Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78] |
| "And I saw all the labour and all the skill of business, that it is an envious surpassing of the one by the other: also this is vain and windy effort." The היא refers to this exertion of vigorous effort and skill. The Graec. Venet., by rendering here and at Ecc 2:24 כּשׁרון, by καθαρότης, betrays himself as a Jew. With כּי, quod, that which forms the pred. follows the object. the min in mere'ehu is as in amatz min, Psa 18:18, and the like - the same as the compar.: aemulatio qua unus prae altero eminere studet. All this expenditure of strength and art has covetousness and envy, with which one seeks to surpass another, as its poisoned sting. |
| Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65] |
| Right work - All the worthy designs of virtuous men. Envied - Instead of honour, he meets with envy and obloquy. |
| Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826 |
| For this a man is envied - It is not by injustice and wrong only that men suffer, but through envy also. For if a man act uprightly and properly in the world, he soon becomes the object of his neighbor's envy and calumny too. Therefore the encouragement to do good, to act an upright part, is very little. This constitutes a part of the vain and empty system of human life. |
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.
21 For there is a man whose labour is in wisdom, and in knowledge, and in equity; yet to a man that hath not laboured therein shall he leave it for his portion. This also is vanity and a great evil.
18 They prevented me in the day of my calamity: but the LORD was my stay.
24 There is nothing better for a man, than that he should eat and drink, and that he should make his soul enjoy good in his labour. This also I saw, that it was from the hand of God.