Ecclesiastes 4

¹And I have turned, and I see all the oppressions that are done under the sun, and lo, the tear of the oppressed, and they have no comforter; and at the hand of their oppressors is power, and they have no comforter. ²And I am praising the dead who have already died above the living who are yet alive. ³And better than both of them is he who hath not yet been, in that he hath not seen the evil work that hath been done under the sun.

⁴And I have seen all the labour, and all the benefit of the work, because for it a man is the envy of his neighbour. Even this is vanity and vexation of spirit. ⁵The fool is clasping his hands, and eating his own flesh: ⁶‘Better is a handful with quietness, than two handfuls with labour and vexation of spirit.’

⁷And I have turned, and I see a vain thing under the sun: ⁸There is one, and there is not a second; even son or brother he hath not, and there is no end to all his labour! His eye also is not satisfied with riches, and he saith not, ‘For whom am I labouring and bereaving my soul of good?’ This also is vanity, it is a sad travail. ⁹The two are better than the one, in that they have a good reward by their labour. ¹⁰For if they fall, the one raiseth up his companion, but woe to the one who falleth and there is not a second to raise him up! ¹¹Also, if two lie down, then they have heat, but how hath one heat? ¹²And if the one strengthen himself, the two stand against him; and the threefold cord is not hastily broken.

¹³Better is a poor and wise youth than an old and foolish king, who hath not known to be warned any more. ¹⁴For from a house of prisoners he hath come out to reign, for even in his own kingdom he hath been poor. ¹⁵I have seen all the living, who are walking under the sun, with the second youth who doth stand in his place; ¹⁶there is no end to all the people, to all who were before them; also, the latter rejoice not in him. Surely this also is vanity and vexation of spirit.

Chapter 5