Ecclesiastes 4:1

He saw the tears of the oppressed who had no comforter, while power lay with their oppressors. The suffering caused by injustice and the absence of comfort weighs heavily on him.

Cross-references · 40

• Eccl 3:16Furthermore, I saw under the sun that in the place of judgment there is wickedness, and in the place of righteousness there is wickedness.
• Eccl 5:8If you see the oppression of the poor and the denial of justice and righteousness in the province, do not be astonished at the matter; for one official is watched by a superior, and others higher still are over them.
• Isa 5:7For the vineyard of the LORD of Hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are the plant of His delight. He looked for justice, but saw bloodshed; for righteousness, but heard a cry of distress.
• Job 35:9Men cry out under great oppression; they plead for relief from the arm of the mighty.
• Isa 59:13–15rebelling and denying the LORD, turning away from our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering lies from the heart.
• Jas 5:4Look, the wages you withheld from the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of Hosts.
• Ps 12:5“For the cause of the oppressed and for the groaning of the needy, I will now arise,” says the LORD. “I will bring safety to him who yearns.”
• Mal 3:5“Then I will draw near to you for judgment. And I will be a swift witness against sorcerers and adulterers and perjurers, against oppressors of the widowed and fatherless, and against those who defraud laborers of their wages and deny justice to the foreigner but do not fear Me,” says the LORD of Hosts.
• Lam 1:2She weeps aloud in the night, with tears upon her cheeks. Among all her lovers there is no one to comfort her. All her friends have betrayed her; they have become her enemies.
• Isa 51:23I will place it in the hands of your tormentors, who told you: ‘Lie down, so we can walk over you,’ so that you made your back like the ground, like a street to be traversed.”
• Ps 42:9I say to God my Rock, “Why have You forgotten me? Why must I walk in sorrow because of the enemy’s oppression?”
• 2 Tim 4:16–17At my first defense, no one stood with me, but everyone deserted me. May it not be charged against them.
• Lam 1:9Her uncleanness stains her skirts; she did not consider her end. Her downfall was astounding; there was no one to comfort her. Look, O LORD, on my affliction, for the enemy has triumphed!
• Matt 26:56But this has all happened so that the writings of the prophets would be fulfilled.” Then all the disciples deserted Him and fled.
• Ps 42:3My tears have been my food both day and night, while men ask me all day long, “Where is your God?”
• Isa 59:7Their feet run to evil; they are swift to shed innocent blood. Their thoughts are sinful thoughts; ruin and destruction lie in their wake.
• Ps 69:20Insults have broken my heart, and I am in despair. I looked for sympathy, but there was none, for comforters, but I found no one.
• Ps 142:4Look to my right and see; no one attends to me. There is no refuge for me; no one cares for my soul.
• Judg 4:3Then the Israelites cried out to the LORD, because Jabin had nine hundred chariots of iron, and he had harshly oppressed the Israelites for twenty years.
• Job 6:29Reconsider; do not be unjust. Reconsider, for my righteousness is at stake.
• Exod 1:13–14They worked the Israelites ruthlessly
• Exod 1:22Then Pharaoh commanded all his people: “Every son born to the Hebrews you must throw into the Nile, but every daughter you may allow to live.”
• Ps 80:5You fed them with the bread of tears and made them drink the full measure of their tears.
• Exod 2:23–24After a long time, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned and cried out under their burden of slavery, and their cry for deliverance from bondage ascended to God.
• Job 24:7–12Without clothing, they spend the night naked; they have no covering against the cold.
• Deut 28:48you will serve your enemies the LORD will send against you in famine, thirst, nakedness, and destitution. He will place an iron yoke on your neck until He has destroyed you.
• Prov 28:15–16Like a roaring lion or a charging bear is a wicked ruler over a helpless people.
• Job 16:4I could also speak like you if you were in my place; I could heap up words against you and shake my head at you.
• Exod 1:16“When you help the Hebrew women give birth, observe them on the birthstools. If the child is a son, kill him; but if it is a daughter, let her live.”
• Prov 28:3A destitute leader who oppresses the poor is like a driving rain that leaves no food.
• Deut 28:33A people you do not know will eat the produce of your land and of all your toil. All your days you will be oppressed and crushed.
• Mal 2:13And this is another thing you do: You cover the altar of the LORD with tears, with weeping and groaning, because He no longer regards your offerings or receives them gladly from your hands.
• Neh 5:1–5About that time there was a great outcry from the people and their wives against their fellow Jews.
• Ps 10:9–10He lies in wait like a lion in a thicket; he lurks to seize the oppressed; he catches the lowly in his net.
• Eccl 7:7Surely extortion turns a wise man into a fool, and a bribe corrupts the heart.
• Job 19:21–22Have pity on me, my friends, have pity, for the hand of God has struck me.
• Exod 5:16–19No straw has been given to your servants, yet we are told, ‘Make bricks!’ Look, your servants are being beaten, but the fault is with your own people.”
• Judg 10:7–8So the anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and He sold them into the hands of the Philistines and Ammonites,
• Mal 3:18So you will again distinguish between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not.”
• Prov 19:7All the brothers of a poor man hate him—how much more do his friends avoid him! He may pursue them with pleading, but they are nowhere to be found.

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