Ecclesiastes 4

So I looked again, and I thought about all the cruel treatment that goes on in this world. I saw the tears of people who were treated badly, and no one comforted them. Their oppressors held all the power, and still no one comforted them.

1So I returned, and considered all the oppressions that are done under the sun: and behold the tears of such as were oppressed, and they had no comforter; and on the side of their oppressors there was power; but they had no comforter.

Note"Under the sun" is one of the book's signature phrases, used about thirty times. It means life as it is lived here on earth, in the ordinary daylight world of the living, everything a person can actually see and measure, as opposed to whatever may lie beyond it.

2So I said the dead, who have already died, are better off than the living, who are still alive.

2Wherefore I praised the dead which are already dead more than the living which are yet alive.

3But better off than both is the person who has never existed, who has never seen the evil that is done in this world.

3Yea, better is he than both they, which hath not yet been, who hath not seen the evil work that is done under the sun.

4Then I thought about all the hard work people do, and every skillful thing they accomplish, and I saw that it comes from one person envying another. This is empty too, like chasing the wind.

4Again, I considered all travail, and every right work, that for this a man is envied of his neighbour. This is also vanity and vexation of spirit.

NoteTwo stock phrases of this book appear here. "Vanity" translates a Hebrew word meaning vapor or breath (something real but weightless, gone as soon as you try to hold it), not "conceit" as the English word now suggests. "Vexation of spirit" renders a phrase that can mean chasing wind or feeding on wind; either way, effort spent on something that cannot be caught or kept. The verse itself is also ambiguous in Hebrew: the envy may be what drives a person to work and succeed, or it may be what his success provokes in the neighbors watching him.

5The fool folds his hands and does nothing, and so he eats his own flesh.

5The fool foldeth his hands together, and eateth his own flesh.

NoteFolded hands were the standard picture of idleness in ancient proverbs, the posture of a man who will not get up and work. "Eats his own flesh" is an idiom for self-destruction: with nothing produced, he consumes himself. Some read it more literally as wasting away for lack of food.

6One handful with peace and quiet is better than two handfuls gained by hard work and chasing the wind.

6Better is an handful with quietness, than both the hands full with travail and vexation of spirit.

7Then I looked again, and I saw something else in this world that is empty.

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

8There is a man who is completely alone. He has no one with him, no son and no brother. Yet his work never ends, and his eyes are never satisfied with what he owns. He never asks, "Who am I working for, and why am I keeping myself from enjoying anything good?" This is empty too, and it is a miserable job.

8There is one alone, and there is not a second; yea, he hath neither child nor brother: yet is there no end of all his labour; neither is his eye satisfied with riches; neither saith he, For whom do I labour, and bereave my soul of good? This is also vanity, yea, it is a sore travail.

9Two are better than one, because they get a good return for their work.

9Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour.

10If one of them falls down, the other can help him up. But it is bad for the person who is alone when he falls, because there is no one to help him up.

10For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up.

11Also, if two lie down together, they stay warm. But how can one person keep warm alone?

11Again, if two lie together, then they have heat: but how can one be warm alone?

NoteThis is about staying alive through cold nights, not about sex. Ordinary people slept in their outer cloak, and two people sharing bedding and body heat was a practical necessity for travelers and the poor in a land where nights can drop close to freezing.

12And if someone attacks a person who is alone, two people can stand against him. A rope made of three strands is not easily broken.

12And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken.

NoteA cord made by twisting three strands together was the common strong rope of the ancient world, and the image was proverbial: a near-identical line, "a three-ply rope is not easily broken," turns up in Mesopotamian literature centuries earlier.

13A poor but wise young man is better than an old but foolish king who will no longer listen to a warning.

13Better is a poor and a wise child than an old and foolish king, who will no more be admonished.

Note"Child" in 1611 English covered any young person, not just a small one; the Hebrew word means a youth or young man old enough to rule. The point about the old king is political: ancient kings governed with counselors, and a king who would no longer take advice or heed a warning was considered finished as a ruler.

14For the young man came out of prison to become king, though someone was born poor in that very kingdom.

14For out of prison he cometh to reign; whereas also he that is born in his kingdom becometh poor.

NoteThe Hebrew pronouns here are not tied down, and translators disagree about who does what. It may mean the young man rose from prison to the throne although he was born poor in that same kingdom; or that he rose from prison while the man born to the throne ended up poor. The picture of a prisoner becoming king was not far-fetched, palace politics regularly jailed and released rivals.

15I watched all the living who walk about in this world, and I saw them follow the second young man, the one who took the old king's place.

15I considered all the living which walk under the sun, with the second child that shall stand up in his stead.

Note"The second" means the successor, the next man to hold the throne. "Stand up in his stead" is simply the old idiom for taking someone's place. The crowds "walking under the sun" are the living population, shown transferring their loyalty to the new ruler.

16There was no end to the crowds of people, all those he led. Yet the people who come later will not be glad about him either. This too is empty, like chasing the wind.

16There is no end of all the people, even of all that have been before them: they also that come after shall not rejoice in him. Surely this also is vanity and vexation of spirit.

NoteThis verse is one of the hardest in the book, and the Hebrew is compressed to the point of obscurity. "All the people" may be the countless subjects the new king rules, or all the generations that came before him; the point of the second half is clearer, the people living later will be no more attached to him than they were to the king he replaced.