| [an error occurred while processing this directive] | Berean Study Bible |
| 1[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 1Again I looked, and I considered all the oppression taking place under the sun. I saw the tears of the oppressed, and they had no comforter; the power lay in the hands of their oppressors, and there was no comforter. |
| 2[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 2So I admired the dead, who had already died, above the living, who are still alive. |
| 3[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 3But better than both is he who has not yet existed, who has not seen the evil that is done under the sun. |
| 4[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 4I saw that all labor and success spring from a man’s envy of his neighbor. This too is futile and a pursuit of the wind. |
| 5[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 5The fool folds his hands and consumes his own flesh. |
| 6[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 6Better one handful with tranquility than two handfuls with toil and pursuit of the wind. |
| 7[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 7Again, I saw futility under the sun. |
| 8[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 8There is a man all alone, without even a son or brother. And though there is no end to his labor, his eyes are still not content with his wealth: “For whom do I toil and bereave my soul of enjoyment?” This too is futile—a miserable task. |
| 9[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 9Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor. |
| 10[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 10For if one falls down, his companion can lift him up; but pity the one who falls without another to help him up! |
| 11[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 11Again, if two lie down together, they will keep warm; but how can one keep warm alone? |
| 12[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 12And though one may be overpowered, two can resist. Moreover, a cord of three strands is not quickly broken. |
| 13[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 13Better is a poor but wise youth than an old but foolish king who no longer knows how to take a warning. |
| 14[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 14For the youth has come from the prison to the kingship, though he was born poor in his own kingdom. |
| 15[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 15I saw that all who lived and walked under the sun followed this second one, the youth who succeeded the king. |
| 16[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 16There is no limit to all the people who were before them. Yet the successor will not be celebrated by those who come even later. This too is futile and a pursuit of the wind. |
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