Ecclesiastes 4:1-8

¹Again I looked, and I considered all the oppression taking place under the sun. I saw the tears of the oppressed, and they had no comforter; the power lay in the hands of their oppressors, and there was no comforter.

²So I admired the dead, who had already died, above the living, who are still alive.

³But better than both is he who has not yet existed, who has not seen the evil that is done under the sun.

⁴I saw that all labor and success spring from a man’s envy of his neighbor. This too is futile and a pursuit of the wind.

⁵The fool folds his hands

and consumes his own flesh.

⁶Better one handful with tranquility

than two handfuls with toil and pursuit of the wind.

⁷Again, I saw futility under the sun.

⁸There is a man all alone, without even a son or brother. And though there is no end to his labor, his eyes are still not content with his wealth: “For whom do I toil and bereave my soul of enjoyment?” This too is futile — a miserable task.

— Ecclesiastes 4:1-8

(BSB)

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Cross References for Ecclesiastes 4:1-8

• Proverbs 15:16-17
• Proverbs 16:8
• 1 John 2:16
• 1 John 3:12
• Ecclesiastes 3:16
• Proverbs 27:20
• Psalm 37:16
• Ecclesiastes 1:14
• Luke 12:20
• Proverbs 17:1

Cross References Provided by Open Bible

The Berean Standard Bible

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