Ecclesiastes:4-5

---

Seeker Overlay ON

* So I returned , and considered all the oppressions that are done under the sun : and behold the tears of such as were oppressed , and they had no comforter ; and on the side of their oppressors there was power ; but they had no comforter . * Wherefore I praised the dead which are already dead more than the living which are yet alive . * Yea , better is he than both they , which hath not yet been , who hath not seen the evil work that is done under the sun . * 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 . * The fool foldeth his hands together , and eateth his own flesh . * Better is an handful with quietness , than both the hands full with travail and vexation of spirit . * Then I returned , and I saw vanity under the sun . * There is one alone , and there is not a second ; yea , he hath neither child 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 , yea , it is a sore travail . * Two are better than one ; because they have a good reward for their labour . * For if they fall , the one will lift up his fellow : but woe to him that is alone when he falleth ; for he hath not another to help him up . * Again , if two lie together , then they have heat : but how can one be warm alone ? * And if one prevail against him , two shall withstand him ; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken . * Better is a poor and a wise child than an old and foolish king , who will no more be admonished . * For out of prison he cometh to reign ; whereas also he that is born in his kingdom becometh poor . * I considered all the living which walk under the sun , with the second child that shall stand up in his stead . * There is no end of all the people , even of all that have been before them : they also that come after shall not rejoice in him . Surely this also is vanity and vexation of spirit . * Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God , and be more ready to hear , than to give the sacrifice of fools : for they consider not that they do evil . * Be not rash with thy mouth , and let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing before God : for God is in heaven , and thou upon earth : therefore let thy words be few . * For a dream cometh through the multitude of business ; and a fool 's voice is known by multitude of words . * When thou vowest a vow unto God , defer not to pay it ; for he hath no pleasure in fools : pay that which thou hast vowed . * Better is it that thou shouldest not vow , than that thou shouldest vow and not pay . * Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin ; neither say thou before the angel , that it was an error : wherefore should God be angry at thy voice , and destroy the work of thine hands ? * For in the multitude of dreams and many words there are also divers vanities : but fear thou God . * If thou seest the oppression of the poor , and violent perverting of judgment and justice in a province , marvel not at the matter : for he that is higher than the highest regardeth ; and there be higher than they . * Moreover the profit of the earth is for all : the king himself is served by the field . * He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver ; nor he that loveth abundance with increase : this is also vanity . * When goods increase , they are increased that eat them : and what good is there to the owners thereof , saving the beholding of them with their eyes ? * The sleep of a labouring man is sweet , whether he eat little or much : but the abundance of the rich will not suffer him to sleep . * There is a sore evil which I have seen under the sun , namely , riches kept for the owners thereof to their hurt . * But those riches perish by evil travail : and he begetteth a son , and there is nothing in his hand . * As he came forth of his mother 's womb , naked shall he return to go as he came , and shall take nothing of his labour , which he may carry away in his hand . * And this also is a sore evil , that in all points as he came , so shall he go : and what profit hath he that hath laboured for the wind ? * All his days also he eateth in darkness , and he hath much sorrow and wrath with his sickness . * Behold that which I have seen : it is good and comely for one to eat and to drink , and to enjoy the good of all his labour that he taketh under the sun all the days of his life , which God giveth him : for it is his portion . * Every man also to whom God hath given riches and wealth , and hath given him power to eat thereof , and to take his portion , and to rejoice in his labour ; this is the gift of God . * For he shall not much remember the days of his life ; because God answereth him in the joy of his heart . * There is an evil which I have seen under the sun , and it is common among men :

---