Ecclesiastes 4:1-10 ▼

1 Then I looked again at all the acts of oppression which were being done under the sun. And behold, I saw the tears of the oppressed and that they had no one to comfort them; and power was on the side of their oppressors, but they had no one to comfort them.

2 So I congratulated the dead who are already dead, more than the living who are still living.

3 But better off than both of them is the one who has never existed, who has never seen the evil activity that is done under the sun.

4 I have seen that every labor and every skill which is done is the result of rivalry between a person and his neighbor. This too is futility and striving after wind.

5 The fool folds his hands and consumes his own flesh.

6 One hand full of rest is better than two fists full of labor and striving after wind.

7 Then I looked again at futility under the sun.

8 There was a man without a dependent, having neither a son nor a brother, yet there was no end to all his labor. Indeed, his eyes were not satisfied with riches, and he never asked, “And for whom do I labor and deprive myself of pleasure?” This too is futility, and it is an unhappy task.

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

10 for if either of them falls, the one will lift up his companion. But woe to the one who falls when there is not another to lift him up!