Parallel Bible results for "ecclesiastes 4:1-8"

Ecclesiastes 4:1-8

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NIV

1 Next I turned my attention to all the outrageous violence that takes place on this planet - the tears of the victims, no one to comfort them; the iron grip of oppressors, no one to rescue the victims from them.
1 Again I looked and saw all the oppression that was taking place under the sun: I saw the tears of the oppressed— and they have no comforter; power was on the side of their oppressors— and they have no comforter.
2 So I congratulated the dead who are already dead instead of the living who are still alive.
2 And I declared that the dead, who had already died, are happier than the living, who are still alive.
3 But luckier than the dead or the living is the person who has never even been, who has never seen the bad business that takes place on this earth.
3 But better than both is the one who has never been born, who has not seen the evil that is done under the sun.
4 Then I observed all the work and ambition motivated by envy. What a waste! Smoke. And spitting into the wind.
4 And I saw that all toil and all achievement spring from one person’s envy of another. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.
5 The fool sits back and takes it easy, His sloth is slow suicide.
5 Fools fold their hands and ruin themselves.
6 One handful of peaceful repose Is better than two fistfuls of worried work - More spitting into the wind.
6 Better one handful with tranquillity than two handfuls with toil and chasing after the wind.
7 I turned my head and saw yet another wisp of smoke on its way to nothingness:
7 Again I saw something meaningless under the sun:
8 a solitary person, completely alone - no children, no family, no friends - yet working obsessively late into the night, compulsively greedy for more and more, never bothering to ask, "Why am I working like a dog, never having any fun? And who cares?" More smoke. A bad business.
8 There was a man all alone; he had neither son nor brother. There was no end to his toil, yet his eyes were not content with his wealth. “For whom am I toiling,” he asked, “and why am I depriving myself of enjoyment?” This too is meaningless— a miserable business!
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.
Scripture quoted by permission.  Quotations designated (NIV) are from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®.  NIV®.  Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica.  All rights reserved worldwide.