Parallel Verses

Amplified

If a man fathers a hundred children and lives many years, however many they may be, but his soul is not satisfied with good things and he is not respected and is not given a proper burial [he is not laid to rest in the sepulcher of his fathers], then I say, “Better the miscarriage than he,

New American Standard Bible

If a man fathers a hundred children and lives many years, however many they be, but his soul is not satisfied with good things and he does not even have a proper burial, then I say, “Better the miscarriage than he,

King James Version

If a man beget an hundred children, and live many years, so that the days of his years be many, and his soul be not filled with good, and also that he have no burial; I say, that an untimely birth is better than he.

Holman Bible

A man may father a hundred children and live many years. No matter how long he lives, if he is not satisfied by good things and does not even have a proper burial, I say that a stillborn child is better off than he.

International Standard Version

A man might father a hundred children, and live for many years, so that the length of his life is long but if his life does not overflow with goodness, and he doesn't receive a proper burial, I maintain that stillborn children are better off than he is,

A Conservative Version

If a man begets a hundred sons, and lives many years so that the days of his years are many, but his soul is not filled with good, and moreover he has no burial, I say, that an untimely birth is better than he.

American Standard Version

If a man beget a hundred children, and live many years, so that the days of his years are many, but his soul be not filled with good, and moreover he have no burial; I say, that an untimely birth is better than he:

Bible in Basic English

If a man has a hundred children, and his life is long so that the days of his years are great in number, but his soul takes no pleasure in good, and he is not honoured at his death; I say that a birth before its time is better than he.

Darby Translation

If a man beget a hundred sons, and live many years, so that the days of his years be many, but his soul be not filled with good, and also he have no burial, I say an untimely birth is better than he.

Julia Smith Translation

If a man shall beget a hundred, and live many years, and a multitude shall be the days of his years, and his soul shall not be satisfied from good, and also there was no burial to him; I said, Good above him an abortion.

King James 2000

If a man begets a hundred children, and lives many years, so that the days of his years are many, and his soul is not filled with good, and also that he has no burial; I say, that a stillborn birth is better than he.

Lexham Expanded Bible

Even if a man fathers a hundred [children] and lives many years so that the days of his years are many, if his heart is not satisfied with {his prosperity} and {he does not receive a proper burial}, I deem the stillborn better than him.

Modern King James verseion

If a man fathers a hundred, and lives many years, so that the days of his years are many, and his soul is not filled with good, and also is for him no burial; I say, a miscarriage is better than he.

Modern Spelling Tyndale-Coverdale

If a man beget a hundredth children, and live many years, so that his days are many in number, and yet cannot enjoy his good, neither be buried: as for him I say, that an untimely birth is better than he.

NET Bible

Even if a man fathers a hundred children and lives many years -- even if he lives a long, long time, but cannot enjoy his prosperity -- even if he were to live forever -- I would say, "A stillborn child is better off than he is!"

New Heart English Bible

If a man fathers a hundred children, and lives many years, so that the days of his years are many, but his soul is not filled with good, and moreover he has no burial; I say, that a stillborn child is better than he:

The Emphasized Bible

Though a man should beget a hundred children, and live, many years, so that many should be the days of his years but, his own soul, should not be satisfied with the good, and he should not even have, a burial, I said, Better than he, is an untimely birth!

Webster

If a man begetteth a hundred children, and liveth many years, so that the days of his years are many, and his soul is not filled with good, and also that he hath no burial; I say, that an untimely birth is better than he.

World English Bible

If a man fathers a hundred children, and lives many years, so that the days of his years are many, but his soul is not filled with good, and moreover he has no burial; I say, that a stillborn child is better than he:

Youngs Literal Translation

If a man doth beget a hundred, and live many years, and is great, because they are the days of his years, and his soul is not satisfied from the goodness, and also he hath not had a grave, I have said, 'Better than he is the untimely birth.'

Interlinear

English(KJV)
Strong's
Root Form
Definition
Usage
If a man
אישׁ 
'iysh 
Usage: 692

ילד 
Yalad 
Usage: 497

an hundred
מאיה מאה 
me'ah 
Usage: 581

children, and live
חיה 
Chayah 
Usage: 264

רב 
Rab 
Usage: 458

שׁנה שׁנה 
Shaneh (in pl. only), 
year, not translated, yearly, yearly + , year , live , old ,
Usage: 811

so that the days
יום 
Yowm 
Usage: 2293

of his years
שׁנה שׁנה 
Shaneh (in pl. only), 
year, not translated, yearly, yearly + , year , live , old ,
Usage: 811

be many
רב 
Rab 
Usage: 458

and his soul
נפשׁ 
Nephesh 
Usage: 753

be not filled
שׂבע שׂבע 
Saba` 
Usage: 98

and also that he have no burial
קברה קבוּרה 
Q@buwrah 
Usage: 14

I say

Usage: 0

נפל נפל 
Nephel 
Usage: 3

References

American

Context Readings

Those Who Have Wealth But Do Not Enjoy It Are Pitiful

2 a man to whom God has given riches and wealth and honor, so that he lacks nothing of all that he desires, yet God has not given him the power or capacity to enjoy them [all those things which are gifts from God], but a stranger [in whom he has no interest succeeds him and] enjoys them. This is vanity and it is a [cause of] great distress. 3 If a man fathers a hundred children and lives many years, however many they may be, but his soul is not satisfied with good things and he is not respected and is not given a proper burial [he is not laid to rest in the sepulcher of his fathers], then I say, “Better the miscarriage than he, 4 for the miscarriage comes in futility (in vain) and passes into obscurity; and its name is covered in obscurity.

Cross References

Job 3:16


“Or like a miscarriage which is hidden and put away, I would not exist,
Like infants who never saw light.

Ecclesiastes 4:3

But better off than either of them is the one who has not yet been born, who has not seen the evil deeds that are done under the sun.

Jeremiah 22:19


He shall be buried with the burial of a donkey—
Dragged off and thrown out beyond the gates of Jerusalem.

Genesis 47:9

Jacob said to Pharaoh, “The years of my pilgrimage are a hundred and thirty. Few and unpleasant have been the years of my life, and they have not reached the years that my fathers lived during the days of their pilgrimage.”

2 Kings 9:35

They went to bury her, but they found nothing left of her except the skull and the feet and the palms of her hands.

Genesis 33:5

Esau looked up and saw the women and the children, and said, “Who are these with you?” So Jacob replied, “They are the children whom God has graciously given your servant.”

1 Samuel 2:20-21

Then Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife and say, “May the Lord give you children by this woman in place of the one she asked for which was dedicated to the Lord.” Then they would return to their own home.

2 Kings 10:1

Ahab had seventy sons [and grandsons] in Samaria. So Jehu wrote letters and sent them to Samaria, to the rulers of Jezreel, to the elders, and to the guardians of the children of Ahab, saying,

1 Chronicles 28:5

Of all my sons (for the Lord has given me many sons) He has chosen my son Solomon to sit on the throne of the kingdom of the Lord over Israel.

2 Chronicles 11:21

Rehoboam loved Maacah the daughter (granddaughter) of Absalom more than all his wives and concubines—for he had taken eighteen wives and sixty concubines, and he fathered twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters.

Esther 5:11

Then Haman recounted to them the glory of his riches, the large number of his sons, and every instance in which the king had magnified him and how he had promoted him over the officials and servants of the king.

Esther 7:10

So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the king’s anger subsided.

Esther 9:14-15

So the king commanded it to be done; the decree was given in Susa, and they hanged [the bodies of] Haman’s ten sons.

Psalm 58:8


Let them be as a snail which melts away (secretes slime) as it goes along,
Like the miscarriage of a woman which never sees the sun.

Psalm 127:4-5


Like arrows in the hand of a warrior,
So are the children of one’s youth.

Proverbs 17:6


Grandchildren are the crown of aged men,
And the glory of children is their fathers [who live godly lives].

Ecclesiastes 5:17-19

All of his life he also eats in darkness [cheerlessly, without sweetness and light], with great frustration, sickness, and anger.

Isaiah 14:19-20


“But you [king of Babylon] have been cast out of your tomb (denied burial)
Like a rejected branch,
Clothed with the slain who are pierced by the sword,
Who go down to the stones of the pit [into which carcasses are thrown],
Like a dead body trampled [underfoot].

Jeremiah 8:2

They will [carelessly scatter and] spread them out before the sun and the moon and all the host of heaven, which the dead have loved and which they have served, and which they have walked after and which they have sought, and which they have worshiped. They will not be gathered or be buried; they will be like dung on the face of the earth.

Jeremiah 36:30

Therefore thus says the Lord concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah, “He shall have no heir to sit on the throne of David, and his dead body shall be thrown out to the heat of the day and to the frost of the night.

Matthew 26:24

The Son of Man is to go [to the cross], just as it is written [in Scripture] of Him; but woe (judgment is coming) to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been good for that man if he had never been born.”

King James Version Public Domain

Holman Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers.

International Standard Version Copyright © 1996-2008 by the ISV Foundation.

New American Standard Bible Copyright ©1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved. For Permission to Quote Information visit http://www.lockman.org

American Standard Version Public Domain

NET Bible copyright © 1996-2006 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. NetBible

Basic English, produced by Mr C. K. Ogden of the Orthological Institute - public domain