Ecclesiastes 4:1

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Summary

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.

I returned

Job 6:29

Malachi 3:18

And considered

The tears

James 5:4

They had

General references

Bible References

I returned

Reply, I pray you, let there be no perversity, Yea reply even yet, my vindication is in it!

So shall ye return, and see the difference, between the righteous and the lawless, - between him that serveth God, and him that serveth him not.

And considered

Then, again, I saw under the sun, the place of justice, that there was lawlessness, and, the place of righteousness, that there was lawlessness.

If, the oppression of the poor, and the wresting of justice and righteousness, thou see in the province, do not be astonished over the matter, - for, one high above the highest, is watching, yea, the Most High, is over them.

For, oppression, maddeneth the wise, - and a bribe, destroyeth the understanding.

And the Egyptians rigorously made the sons of Israel serve;

And it came to pass, during those many days, that the king of Egypt died, and the sons of Israel sighed by reason of the servitude and lamented, - and their cry for help went up to God, by reason of the servitude.

No straw, is given to thy servants, yet bricks, - they keep saying to us - make ye! And lo, thy servants, are beaten - thou dost, therefore, wrong thy people.

The fruit of thy soil, and all thy toilsome produce, shall a people whom thou knowest not, eat up, - and thou shalt be only oppressed and crushed, all the days;

And the sons of Israel made outcry unto Yahweh, - for he had, nine hundred chariots of iron, and, he, oppressed the sons of Israel heavily, twenty years.

So the anger of Yahweh kindled upon Israel, - and he sold them into the hand of the Philistines, and into the hand of the sons of Ammon;

Then came there to be a great outcry of the people and their wives, - against their brethren the Jews.

Ill-clad, they are left to lodge without clothing, and have no covering in the cold;

He lieth in wait in a hiding-place, like a lion in his covert, He lieth in wait to catch the humbled, He catcheth the humbled, by drawing him into his net:

A poor man, who oppresseth the helpless, is like a rain beating down, leaving no food.

Surely the vineyard of Yahweh of hosts, is the house of Israel, And, the men of Judah, are the plantation in which he dearly delighted, - And he waited, For equity but lo! murderous iniquity, For the rule of right but lo the cry of the wronged.

But I will put it into the hand of thy tormentors, Who said to thy soul, Bow down thus we may pass over, - And so thou didst place as the ground, thy back, Yea as the street to such as were passing along.

Their feet, to mischief, do run, And they speed to shed innocent blood, - Their devices, are devices of iniquity, Wasting and destruction, are in their high roads;

Therefore will I draw near unto you for judgment, and will become a swift witness against the mutterers of incantations, and against the adulterers, and against them that swear to a falsehood, - and against them who rob the hire of the hireling, the widow and the fatherless, and that drive away the sojourner, and do not revere me, saith Yahweh of hosts.

The tears

My tears have been my food day and night, While it hath been said unto me all the day, Where is thy God?

Thou hast fed them with the food of tears, And hast caused them to drink the water of weeping in threefold abundance.

All the day, have mine enemies, reproached me, And, they who are mad against me, by me, have sworn.

And, this, a second time, will ye do, covering with tears, the altar of Yahweh, weeping and making outcry, - because he will not again turn unto the gift, and receive it with acceptance, at your hands?

Lo, the wage of the workers who have out down your fields - that which hath been kept back, by you, is crying out; and, the outcries of them who reaped, into the ears of the Lord of hosts, have entered:

They had

I also, like you, could speak, - If your soul were in the place of my soul, I could string together words against you, and could therewith shake over you my head.

Pity me! pity me! ye, my friends, for, the hand of GOD, hath stricken me!

Reproach hath broken my heart, and I am weak, - Though I waited for one to pity me, yet there was none, And for comforters, yet I found not any.

Look to the right hand and see, that there is none that, for me, hath regard, - Escape is lost to me, There is no one to care for my life.

All the brethren of a poor man, hate him, how much more have, his friends, gone far from him, he may hunt up promises - there are none.

She, weepeth sore, in the night, and, her tear, is on her cheek, She hath none to comfort her, of all her lovers, - All her friends, have betrayed her, have become her foes.

But, this, hath, wholly, come to pass, that, the Scriptures of the prophets, may be fulfilled. Then, the disciples, all forsaking him, fled.

In my first defence, no man, came in to help me, but, all, forsook me, - unto them, may it not be reckoned! -

General references

Then, again, I saw under the sun, the place of justice, that there was lawlessness, and, the place of righteousness, that there was lawlessness.

Then again, I, looked at a vain thing under the sun: -

Seeing there are things in abundance which make vanity abound, what profit hath man?

Wherefore shouldst thou let me see iniquity, and, wrong, shouldst let me behold, and, force and violence, be straight before me, - and there should have ever been someone who, contention and strife, would uphold?