complete verse (Ecclesiastes 4:2)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Ecclesiastes 4:2:

  • Kupsabiny: “Then I said in my stomach/heart that the dead are better off than the living.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “So I considered,
    those who have already died are happier than those who are still living.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “So I was able to say that the dead-ones are better than the living-ones.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “So I thought that those who are already dead are more fortunate
    than those who are still alive.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

respectful form of "say/speak" (mōshiageru)

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Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between.

One way to do this is through the usage of lexical honorific forms, i.e., completely different words, as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. In these verses, mōshiageru (申し上げる), the respectful form of iu (言う) or “say / speak” is used.

(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

Translation commentary on Ecclesiastes 4:2

Revised Standard Version literally represents the Hebrew expression, but it is rather unnatural and redundant in English. It serves as a good reminder of how not to translate! But the problems of Revised Standard Version can easily be avoided.

And I thought the dead who are already dead more fortunate is the phrase that brings us Qoheleth’s reflection on the significance of what he witnessed. The initial conjunction And is probably better rendered as “So” or “Then.”

I thought … more fortunate: in Hebrew the verb is “commend” or “congratulate” used as an infinitive but with finite verb significance. To consider someone fortunate is not quite the same thing as congratulating them. Good News Translation “I envy” is an understandable response but does not correctly translate the Hebrew verb. The basic meaning “congratulate” should be preserved, because there is great irony in what Qoheleth says here. Normally life is better than death, even for Qoheleth, but when he is confronted by the many injustices and evils of human society, death seems preferable. Qoheleth offers his congratulations and best wishes to those who have died. They have been able to escape from oppression and injustice. A translation like “So I congratulated those who were dead” conveys that ironic mood. If such irony is not easily understood in the translator’s language, an expression closer to Revised Standard Version, but farther from the Hebrew, will have to be substituted: “So it seems that dead people are better off [than the living].”

Than the living who are still alive: the comparison places the dead in a more favorable position than the living. However, it is not a simple case of comparing the living and the dead; rather the dead and the living are here used as terms to describe those people who were oppressed or are presently being oppressed. The dead are those who have died and as a result have been “rescued” from oppression; the living are those who are still undergoing the pain of oppression. Within this context it is perfectly clear that the dead are now better off than those still suffering. When Qoheleth congratulates people for dying, he reveals his piercing irony. Some languages may need to avoid the redundant phrases of the Hebrew, “the living who are alive” and “the dead who have died.” One possibility is to state the link between living and oppression, and between dying and being freed from this terrible situation.

Translation may be along one of the following lines:

• I consider those who have died to be more fortunate than those still living under oppression!

• So I congratulate those who died under oppression; they are now better off than those still living under it.

• And I declare the dead to be better off than those still alive.

Quoted with permission from Ogden, Graham S. and Zogbo, Lynell. A Handbook on the Book of Ecclesiates. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1997. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

SIL Translator’s Notes on Ecclesiastes 4:2

4:2 So I admired the dead, who had already died, above the living, who are still alive.

I think that people who have died are more fortunate than people who are still alive.
-or-
I decided that it is better for those who have died than for those who are still alive. (English Easy-to-Read Version)

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