Ecclesiastes Chapter 9 verse 4 Holy Bible
For to him that is joined with all the living there is hope; for a living dog is better than a dead lion.
read chapter 9 in ASV
For him who is joined to all the living there is hope; a living dog is better than a dead lion.
read chapter 9 in BBE
For to him that is joined to all the living there is hope; for a living dog is better than a dead lion.
read chapter 9 in DARBY
For to him that is joined to all the living there is hope: for a living dog is better than a dead lion.
read chapter 9 in KJV
read chapter 9 in WBT
For to him who is joined with all the living there is hope; for a living dog is better than a dead lion.
read chapter 9 in WEB
But `to' him who is joined unto all the living there is confidence, for to a living dog it `is' better than to the dead lion.
read chapter 9 in YLT
Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerse 4. - For to him that is joined to all the living there is hope. As long as a man lives (is one of living beings) he has some hope, whatever it be. This feeling is inextinguishable even unto the end. Ἄελπτον οὐδέν πάντα δ ελπίζειν χρεών "Hope springs eternal in the human breast." Thus Bailey sings, in 'Festus' - "All Have hopes, however wretched they may be,Or blessed. It is hope which lifts the lark so high,Hope of a lighter air and bluer sky; . . .
Ellicott's Commentary
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(4) There is a various reading here in the Hebrew. Our translators, following the older translators, adopt the reading of the margin. That of the text gives, instead of "joined," a word signifying "chosen;" the best sense that can be given to which is to translate, "For who is excepted," joining it with the previous verse, beginning this one, "To all the living," &c. With regard to the statement of the following verses, comp. Psalm 6:3 and the marginal references there given. The shepherd's dog is spoken of Job 30:1, and watchdogs Isaiah 56:10. Elsewhere in the Old Testament the dog is an unclean animal living or dead.
