Parallel Bible results for "ecclesiastes 4"

Ecclesiastes 4

The Complete Jewish Bible CJB

1 But I turned away and thought about all the kinds of oppression being done under the sun. I saw the tears of the oppressed, and they had no one to comfort them. The power was on the side of their oppressors, and they had no one to comfort them.

2 So I considered the dead happier, because they were already dead, than the living, who must still live their lives;

3 but happier than either of them is the one who has not yet been born, because he has not yet seen the evil things that are done under the sun.

4 Next I realized that all effort and achievement stem from one person's envy of another. This too is futility and feeding on wind.

5 Fools fold their arms together and eat their own flesh away.

6 Better an armload with tranquillity than both arms full of effort and feeding on wind.

7 Then I turned my attention to something else under the sun that is pointless:

8 the situation in which a solitary individual without a companion, with neither son nor brother, keeps on working endlessly but never has enough wealth. "For whom" [he should ask], "am I working so hard and denying myself pleasure?"This too is truly pointless, a sorry business.

9 Two are better than one, in that their cooperative efforts yield this advantage:

10 if one of them falls, the other will help his partner up - woe to him who is alone when he falls and has no one to help him up.

11 Again, if two people sleep together, they keep each other warm; but how can one person be warm by himself?

12 Moreover, an attacker may defeat someone who is alone, but two can resist him; and a three-stranded cord is not easily broken.

13 Better a youth who is poor but wise than a king who is old but foolish, no longer willing to listen to advice.

14 True, he rose from prison to be king; yet, while ruling, he became poor.

15 I observed that all who live and walk under the sun took the side of the youth mentioned first who would rule in place of the king,

16 and that no limit was set for the number of his subjects. Nevertheless, those who come afterwards will not regard him highly. This too is certainly pointless and feeding on wind.

The Bible in Basic English BBE

1 And again I saw all the cruel things which are done under the sun; there was the weeping of those who have evil done to them, and they had no comforter: and from the hands of the evil-doers there went out power, but they had no comforter.

2 So my praise was for the dead who have gone to their death, more than for the living who still have life.

3 Yes, happier than the dead or the living seemed he who has not ever been, who has not seen the evil which is done under the sun.

4 And I saw that the cause of all the work and of everything which is done well was man's envy of his neighbour. This again is to no purpose and a desire for wind.

5 The foolish man, folding his hands, takes the flesh of his body for food.

6 One hand full of rest is better than two hands full of trouble and desire for wind.

7 Then I came back, and I saw an example of what is to no purpose under the sun.

8 It is one who is by himself, without a second, and without son or brother; but there is no end to all his work, and he has never enough of wealth. For whom, then, am I working and keeping myself from pleasure? This again is to no purpose, and a bitter work.

9 Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their work.

10 And if one has a fall, the other will give him a hand; but unhappy is the man who is by himself, because he has no helper.

11 So again, if two are sleeping together they are warm, but how may one be warm by himself?

12 And two attacked by one would be safe, and three cords twisted together are not quickly broken.

13 A young man who is poor and wise is better than a king who is old and foolish and will not be guided by the wisdom of others.

14 Because out of a prison the young man comes to be king, though by birth he was only a poor man in the kingdom.

15 I saw all the living under the sun round the young man who was to be ruler in place of the king.

16 There was no end of all the people, of all those whose head he was, but they who come later will have no delight in him. This again is to no purpose and desire for wind.