Ecclesiastes 4:1-8

Evil Under the Sun

1 1Again I 2saw all 3the oppressions that are done under the sun. And behold, the tears of the oppressed, and they had 4no one to comfort them! On the side of their oppressors there was power, and there was no one to comfort them.
2 And I 5thought the dead who are already dead more fortunate than the living who are still alive.
3 But 6better than both is he who has not yet been and has not seen the evil deeds that are done under the sun.
4 Then I saw that all toil and all skill in work come from a man's envy of his neighbor. This also is 7vanity and a striving after wind.
5 The fool 8folds his hands and 9eats his own flesh.
6 10Better is a handful of 11quietness than two hands full of toil and a striving after wind.
7 12Again, I saw vanity under the sun:
8 one person who has no other, either son or brother, yet there is no end to all his toil, and his 13eyes are never satisfied with riches, so that he never asks, 14"For whom am I toiling and depriving myself of pleasure?" This also is vanity and an unhappy 15business.

Cross References 15

  • 1. Ecclesiastes 9:11
  • 2. Ecclesiastes 3:16
  • 3. Ecclesiastes 5:8; Job 35:9
  • 4. Lamentations 1:2
  • 5. See Job 3:11-26
  • 6. Ecclesiastes 6:3
  • 7. See Ecclesiastes 1:14
  • 8. Proverbs 6:10; Proverbs 24:33
  • 9. [Isaiah 9:20]
  • 10. See Proverbs 15:16
  • 11. Ecclesiastes 6:5
  • 12. [See ver. 1 above]
  • 13. Ecclesiastes 1:8; [Proverbs 27:20; 1 John 2:16]
  • 14. Ecclesiastes 2:18; Psalms 39:6
  • 15. See Ecclesiastes 1:13
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