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

Please return. Let there be no injustice. Yes, return again. My cause is righteous.

Then you shall return and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him who serves God and him who doesn't serve him.

And considered

Moreover I saw under the sun, in the place of justice, that wickedness was there; and in the place of righteousness, that wickedness was there.

If you see the oppression of the poor, and the violent taking away of justice and righteousness in a district, do not marvel at the matter: for one official is eyed by a higher one; and there are officials over them.

Surely extortion makes the wise man foolish; and a bribe destroys the understanding.

The Egyptians ruthlessly made the children of Israel serve,

It happened in the course of those many days, that the king of Egypt died, and the children of Israel sighed because of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up to God because of the bondage.

No straw is given to your servants, and they tell us, 'Make brick.' and behold, your servants are beaten; but the fault is in your own people."

The fruit of your ground, and all your labors, shall a nation which you do not know eat up; and you shall be only oppressed and crushed always;

The children of Israel cried to the LORD: for he had nine hundred chariots of iron; and twenty years he mightily oppressed the children of Israel.

The anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of the Philistines, and into the hand of the children of Ammon.

Then there arose a great cry of the people and of their wives against their brothers the Jews.

They lie all night naked without clothing, and have no covering in the cold.

He lurks in secret as a lion in his ambush. He lies in wait to catch the helpless. He catches the helpless, when he draws him in his net.

A needy man who oppresses the poor is like a driving rain which leaves no crops.

For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for justice, but, behold, oppression; for righteousness, but, behold, a cry of distress.

and I will put it into the hand of those who afflict you, who have said to your soul, 'Bow down, that we may walk over you;' and you have laid your back as the ground, and as the street, to those who walk over."

Their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood: their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; desolation and destruction are in their paths.

I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against the perjurers, and against those who oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and who deprive the foreigner of justice, and do not fear me," says the LORD of hosts.

The tears

My tears have been my food day and night, while they continually ask me, "Where is your God?"

You have fed them with the bread of tears, and given them tears to drink in large measure.

My enemies reproach me all day. Those who are mad at me use my name as a curse.

This again you do: you cover the altar of the LORD with tears, with weeping, and with sighing, because he doesn't regard the offering any more, neither receives it with good will at your hand.

Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you have kept back by fraud, cry out, and the cries of those who reaped have entered into the ears of the Lord of hosts.

They had

I also could speak as you do. If your soul were in my soul's place, I could join words together against you, and shake my head at you,

"Have pity on me, have pity on me, you my friends; for the hand of God has touched me.

Reproach has broken my heart, and I am full of heaviness. I looked for some to take pity, but there was none; for comforters, but I found none.

Look on my right, and see; for there is no one who is concerned for me. Refuge has fled from me. No one cares for my soul.

All the relatives of the poor shun him: how much more do his friends avoid him. He pursues them with pleas, but they are gone.

She weeps bitterly in the night, and her tears are on her cheeks; among all her lovers she has none to comfort her. All her friends have dealt treacherously with her; they have become her enemies.

But all this has happened, that the Scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled." Then all the disciples left him, and fled.

At my first defense, no one came to help me, but all left me. May it not be held against them.

General references

Moreover I saw under the sun, in the place of justice, that wickedness was there; and in the place of righteousness, that wickedness was there.

Then I returned and saw vanity under the sun.

For there are many words that create vanity. What does that profit man?

Why do you show me iniquity, and look at perversity? For destruction and violence are before me. There is strife, and contention rises up.