Ecclesiastes 4:1 Cross References - MLV

¹ Then I returned and saw 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.

¹³ And the Egyptians made the sons of Israel to serve with rigor. ¹⁴ And they made their lives bitter with hard service, in mortar and in brick and in all manner of service in the field, all their service, with which they made them serve with rigor.

¹⁶ And he said, When you* do the office of a midwife to the Hebrew women and see them upon the stool, if it is a son, then you* will kill him, but if it is a daughter, then she will live.

²² And Pharaoh ordered all his people, saying, Every son that is born you* will cast into the river and every daughter you* will save alive.

²³ And it happened in the course of those many days, that the King of Egypt died. And the sons of Israel sighed because of the bondage and they cried and their cry came up to God because of the bondage. ²⁴ And God heard their groaning and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob.

¹⁶ There is no straw given to your servants and they say to us, Make brick. And behold, your servants are beaten, but the fault it in your own people.
¹⁷ But he said, You* are idle, you* are idle. Therefore you* say, Let us go and sacrifice to Jehovah. ¹⁸ Go therefore now and work, and no straw will be given you*, yet you* will deliver the number of bricks. ¹⁹ And the officers of the sons of Israel saw that they were in affliction, when it was said, You* will not diminish anything from your* bricks, your* daily tasks.

³³ The fruit of your ground and all your labors, will a nation eat up which you do not know. And you will only be oppressed and crushed always,

⁴⁸ therefore you will serve your enemies that Jehovah will send against you, in hunger and in thirst and in nakedness and in want of all things. And he will put a yoke of iron upon your neck, until he has destroyed you.

³ And the sons of Israel cried to Jehovah, for he had nine hundred chariots of iron and he mightily oppressed the sons of Israel twenty years.

⁷ And the anger of Jehovah was kindled against Israel and he sold them into the hand of the Philistines and into the hand of the sons of Ammon. ⁸ And they distressed and oppressed the sons of Israel that year. Eighteen years they oppressed all the sons of Israel who were beyond the Jordan in the land of the Amorites, which is in Gilead.

¹ Then there arose a great cry of the people and of their wives against their brothers the Jews. ² For there were who said, We, our sons and our daughters, are many. Let us get grain that we may eat and live.
³ There were some also who said, We are mortgaging our fields and our vineyards and our houses. Let us get grain because of the dearth.
⁴ There were also who said, We have borrowed money for the king's tribute upon our fields and our vineyards. ⁵ Yet now our flesh is as the flesh of our brothers, our sons as their sons. And behold, we bring into bondage our sons and our daughters to be servants and some of our daughters are brought into bondage already. Neither is it in our power to help it, for other men have our fields and our vineyards.

²⁹ Return, I beseech you*, let there be no injustice. Yes, return again, my cause is righteous.

⁴ I also could speak as you* do, if your* soul were in my soul's stead. I could join words together against you* and shake my head at you*.

²¹ Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, O you* my friends, for the hand of God has touched me. ²² Why do you* persecute me as God and are not satisfied with my flesh?

⁷ They lie all night naked without clothing and have no covering in the cold. ⁸ They are wet with the showers of the mountains and embrace the rock for want of a shelter.
⁹ There are men who pluck the fatherless from the breast and take a pledge of the poor, ¹⁰ so that they go about naked without clothing and being hungry they carry the sheaves. ¹¹ They make oil within the walls of these men. They tread their winepresses and suffer thirst. ¹² From out of the populous city men groan and the soul of the wounded cries out. Yet God does not regard the foolishness.

⁹ Because of the multitude of oppressions they cry out. They cry for help because of the arm of the mighty.

⁹ He lurks in secret as a lion in his covering. He lies in wait to catch the poor man. He catches the poor man when he draws him in his net. ¹⁰ He crouches, he bows down and helpless men fall by his strong men.

⁵ Because of the oppression of the poor, because of the sighing of the needy, now I will arise, says Jehovah. I will set him into the safety he breathes for.

³ My tears have been my food day and night, while they continually say to me, Where is your God?

⁹ I will say to God my rock, Why have you forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?

²⁰ Reproach has broken my heart and I am full of heaviness. And I looked for some to take pity, but there was none, and for comforters, but I found none.

⁵ You have fed them with the bread of tears and given them tears to drink in large measure.

⁸ My enemies reproach me all the day. Those who are mad against me curse by me. ⁹ Because I have eaten ashes like bread and mingled my drink with weeping,

⁴ Look on my right hand and see, for there is no man who knows me. Refuge has failed me. No man cares for my soul.

⁷ All the brothers of a poor man regard him inferior, how much more do his friends go far from him! He pursues with words, but they are gone.

³ A needy man who oppresses the poor is a sweeping rain which leaves no food.

¹⁵ A roaring lion and a ranging bear, is a wicked ruler over a poor people.
¹⁶ The ruler who lacks understanding is also a great oppressor, but he who hates covetousness will prolong his days.

¹⁶ And 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.

⁸ If you see the oppression of a poor man and the violent robbery of justice and righteousness in a province, marvel not at the matter. Because a man higher than the high is observing and there are higher men than they.

⁷ Surely oppression makes the wise man foolish and a bribe destroys the understanding.

⁷ For the vineyard of Jehovah 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.

²³ And I will put it into the hand of those who afflict you, who have said to your soul, Bow down, that we may go over and you have laid your back as the ground and as the street, to those who go over.

⁷ Their feet run to evil and they make haste to shed innocent blood. Their thoughts are thoughts of wickedness. Desolation and destruction are in their paths.

¹³ transgressing and denying Jehovah and turning away from following our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood.
¹⁴ And justice is turned away backward and righteousness stands afar off. For truth has fallen in the street and uprightness cannot enter. ¹⁵ Yes, truth is lacking and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey.
And Jehovah saw it and it displeased him that there was no justice.

² She weeps bitterly in the night and her tears are on her cheeks. Among all her loved ones she has none to comfort her. All her friends have dealt treacherously with her, they have become her enemies.

⁹ Her filthiness was in her skirts. She did not think of her latter end. Therefore she has come down astonishingly. She has no comforter.
Behold, O Jehovah, my affliction, for the enemy has magnified himself.

¹³ And this again you* do: You* cover the altar of Jehovah with tears, with weeping and with sighing, insomuch that he does not regard the offering any more, nor receives it with good will at your* hand.

⁵ And 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 false swearers and against those who oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow and the fatherless and who turn aside the traveler and do not fear me, says Jehovah of hosts.

¹⁸ Then you* will return and discern between the righteous man and the wicked man, between he who serves God and he who does not serve him.

⁵⁶ But this whole thing has happened, in order that the Scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled. Then all the disciples left him and fled.

¹⁶ In my first defense no one came together for my defense, but all forsook me; may it not be counted against them. ¹⁷ But the Lord stood beside me and empowered me; in order that the preaching might be fully assured through me and in order that all the Gentiles might hear and I was rescued out of the mouth of the lion.

⁴ Behold, the wages of the workers who mowed your farmlands, the wages which have been defrauded by you, are crying out against you and the cries of those who reaped have entered into the ears of the Lord of Hosts.