Jubilee2000 - Ecclesiastes - 4

4:1  So I returned and considered all the violence that is done under the sun and behold the tears of [such as are] oppressed, and they have no comforter; and on the side of their oppressors [there was] power; but the [oppressed] had no comforter.

4:2  Therefore I praised the dead who are already dead more than the living who are yet alive.

4:3  And [I thought that] better [is he] than both of them who has not yet been who has not seen the evil works that are done under the sun.

4:4  Again, 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.

4:5  The fool folds his hands together and eats his own flesh.

4:6  Better [is] a handful [with] rest than both the hands full [with] travail and vexation of spirit.

4:7  Then I returned, and I saw [another] vanity under the sun.

4:8  It is the [man] who is alone, without a successor, who has neither son 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 and sore travail.

4:9  Two [are] better than one because they have a better reward for their labour.

4:10  For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow; but woe to him [that is] alone when he falls, for [he has] not another to help him up.

4:11  Again, if two sleep together, then they have heat, but how can one be warm [alone]?

4:12  And if one prevails against him, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken.

4:13  Better [is] a poor and a wise child than an old and foolish king who will no longer be admonished.

4:14  For he came out of prison to reign, even though he was born poor into his kingdom.

4:15  I saw all the living who are under the sun walking with the child, the successor that shall stand up in his stead.

4:16  [There is] no end of all the people that have been before them; those also that come after shall not be content in him. Surely this also [is] vanity and vexation of spirit.: