Ecclesiastes 4:1-10 ▼

1 And I have turned, and I see all the oppressions that are done under the sun, and behold, the tear of the oppressed, and they have no comforter; and at the hand of their oppressors [is] power, and they have no comforter.

2 And I am praising the dead who have already died above the living who are yet alive.

3 And better than both of them [is] he who has not yet been, in that he has not seen the evil work that has been done under the sun.

4 And I have seen all the labor, and all the benefit of the work, because for it a man is the envy of his neighbor. Even this [is] vanity and distress of spirit.

5 The fool is clasping his hands, and eating his own flesh:

6 “Better [is] a handful [with] quietness, than two handfuls [with] labor and distress of spirit.”

7 And I have turned, and I see a vain thing under the sun:

8 There is one, and there is not a second; even son or brother he has not, and there is no end to all his labor! His eye also is not satisfied with riches, and [he does not say], “For whom am I laboring and bereaving my soul of good?” This also is vanity, it is a sad travail.

9 The two [are] better than the one, in that they have a good reward by their labor.

10 For if they fall, the one raises up his companion, but woe to the one who falls and there is not a second to raise him up!