4:1 Again I considered all the oppressions that take place under the sun: the tears of the victims with none to comfort them! From the hand of their oppressors comes violence, and there is none to comfort them!
4:2 And those now dead, I declared more fortunate in death than are the living to be still alive.
4:3 And better off than both is the yet unborn, who has not seen the wicked work that is done under the sun.
4:4 Then I saw that all toil and skillful work is the rivalry of one man for another. This also is vanity and a chase after wind.
4:5 "The fool folds his arms and consumes his own flesh" ?
4:6 Better is one handful with tranquility than two with toil and a chase after wind!
4:7 Again I found this vanity under the sun:
4:8 a solitary man with no companion; with neither son nor brother. Yet there is no end to all his toil, and riches do not satisfy his greed. "For whom do I toil and deprive myself of good things?" This also is vanity and a worthless task.
4:9 Two are better than one: they get a good wage for their labor.
4:10 If the one falls, the other will lift up his companion. Woe to the solitary man! For if he should fall, he has no one to lift him up.
4:11 So also, if two sleep together, they keep each other warm. How can one alone keep warm?
4:12 Where a lone man may be overcome, two together can resist. A three-ply cord is not easily broken.
4:13 Better is a poor but wise youth than an old but foolish king who no longer knows caution;
4:14 for from a prison house one comes forth to rule, since even in his royalty he was poor at birth.
4:15 Then I saw all those who are to live and move about under the sun with the heir apparent who will succeed to his place.
4:16 There is no end to all these people, to all over whom he takes precedence; yet the later generations will not applaud him. This also is vanity and a chase after wind.
4:17 Guard your step when you go to the house of God. Let your approach be obedience, rather than the fools' offering of sacrifice; for they know not how to keep from doing evil.