1. THEN I returned and considered all the oppressions that are practiced under the sun: And I beheld the tears of the oppressed, and they had no comforter; and on the side of their oppressors was power, but they [too] had no comforter.
2. So I praised and thought more fortunate those who have been long dead than the living, who are still alive.
3. But better than them both [I thought] is he who has not yet been born, who has not seen the evil deeds that are done under the sun.