Ecclesiastes 4:1-10 ▼

1 SO I turned and considered all the oppressions that are done under the sun; and behold, the tears of the oppressed, and they had no comforter to deliver them from the hand of their oppressors, having neither strength nor helper.

2 Wherefore I praised the dead who are already dead more than the living who are still alive.

3 But, better is he who has not yet been born than both of them, because he has not seen the evil work that is done under the sun.

4 Then I saw that all the labor and all the work is successful because a man is more zealous than his neighbor. This is also vanity and vexation of spirit.

5 The fool folds his hands together and suffers hunger.

6 Better is a handful with quietness than both hands full with toil and vexation of spirit.

7 Then I turned, and I saw vanity under the sun.

8 When there is but one man, and not a second, and he has neither son nor brother, there is no end to all his labor. Neither are his eyes satisfied with riches; neither does he say, For whom am I laboring and denying myself good things? This is also vanity, and a grievous vexation.

9 Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor;

10 For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow; but woe to him who is alone when he falls; for there is none to lift him up.