For to him that is joined to all the living there is hope: for a living dog is better than a dead lion.
Parallel translations
- WEB For to him who is joined with all the living there is hope; for a living dog is better than a dead lion.
- BSB There is hope, however, for anyone who is among the living; for even a live dog is better than a dead lion.
- NKJV But for him who is joined to all the living there is hope, for a living dog is better than a dead lion.
- NASB For whoever is joined to all the living, there is hope; for better a live dog, than a dead lion.
- NLT There is hope only for the living. As they say, “It’s better to be a live dog than a dead lion!”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
While there is life there is hope, for even a living dog is better off than a dead lion. Life, however humble, holds opportunity that death removes.
Overview
Using a vivid proverb, Qoheleth insists that being alive carries hope and possibility that the dead no longer have under the sun. The lowly but living dog outranks the noble but dead lion. This values the gift of present life as the arena for repentance and faith, the day of opportunity the gospel urges us to seize (2 Corinthians 6:2).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 5
- Job 14:7–12For there is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that the tender branch thereof will not cease.
- Isa 38:18For the grave cannot praise thee, death can not celebrate thee: they that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth.
- Luke 16:26–29And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence.
- Lam 3:21–22This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope.
- Job 27:8For what is the hope of the hypocrite, though he hath gained, when God taketh away his soul?
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
The search that finds everything 'under the sun' to be vapor exposes the emptiness of life without God and drives us to the one who alone gives meaning, the resurrection that makes our labor not in vain.
How Ecclesiastes 9:4 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.