So I considered ¹  those who are dead and gone ²  more fortunate than those who are still alive. ³ 

biblegateway Ecc 4:2

So I congratulated the dead who are already dead more than the living who are still living.

So I admired the dead, who have already died, more than the living, who are still alive.

I congratulate the dead, who have already died, rather than the living, who still have to carry on.

biblegateway Ecc 4:2

And I declared that the dead, who had already died, are happier than the living, who are still alive.

And I thought the dead who are already dead more fortunate than the living who are still alive.

bibleoremus Ecc 4:2

And I thought the dead, who have already died, more fortunate than the living, who are still alive;

I accounted the dead happy because they were already dead, happier than the living who still have lives to live;

biblegateway Ecc 4:2

Therefore I praised the dead who were already dead, More than the living who are still alive.

Wherefore I praised the dead which are already dead more than the living which are yet alive.

biblegateway Ecc 4:2

So I considered ¹  those who are dead and gone ²  more fortunate than those who are still alive. ³ 

¹ tn The verb שָׁבַח (shavakh) has a two-fold range of meaning: (1) “to praise; to laud”; and (2) “to congratulate” (HALOT 1387 s.v. I שׁבח; BDB 986 s.v. II שָׁבַח). The LXX translated it as ἐπῄνεσα (ephnesa, “I praised”). The English versions reflect the range of possible meanings: “praised” (KJV, ASV, Douay); “congratulated” (MLB, NASB); “declared/judged/accounted/thought…fortunate/happy” (NJPS, NEB, NIV, RSV, NRSV, NAB).

² tn Heb “the dead who had already died.”

³ tn Heb “the living who are alive.”