Ecclesiastes 9:4
“For to him who is joined with all the living there is hope; for a living dog is better than a dead lion.”
— Ecclesiastes 9:4
About this verse
Ecclesiastes 9:4 comes from the book of Ecclesiastes, written during the Kingdom (~1000 BC) period. The setting is royal court. These words are attributed to Solomon. The dominant emotion in this verse is joyful, with a comfort power of 70% and a tone that is reflective. It belongs to the wisdom genre of biblical literature. Key themes include hope, life, mortality. Notable phrases: living dog better than dead lion; there is hope.
Speaker
Solomon
Era
Kingdom (~1000 BC)
Emotion
joyful
Type
wisdom
Emotional genome
Comfort power
Quotability
Memorability
Crisis relevance
Standalone
This verse is part of a bigger story
Ecclesiastes 9 has more verses that reveal the full context — who wrote it, what was happening, and why this moment matters.
Read Ecclesiastes 9 →This verse was found through the Bible Genome. Take time to reflect on what speaks to you.
Emotionally similar
“I see him, but not now. I see him, but not near. A star will come out of Jacob. A scepter will rise out of Israel, and s…”
— Numbers 24:17
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith,”
— Galatians 5:22
“There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all o…”
— Galatians 3:28
“Rejoice in the Lord always! Again I will say, Rejoice!”
— Philippians 4:4
“they took the branches of the palm trees, and went out to meet him, and cried out, "Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in …”
— John 12:13