Ecclesiastes 4

Reading Ecclesiastes chapter 4 in the Young's Literal Translation, public-domain text from 1898.

Verses 1–10

1 And I have turned, and I see all the oppressions that are done under the sun, and lo, the tear of the oppressed, and they have no comforter; and at the hand of their oppressors is power, and they have no comforter.

2 And I am praising the dead who have already died above the living who are yet alive.

3 And better than both of them is he who hath not yet been, in that he hath not seen the evil work that hath been done under the sun.

4 And I have seen all the labour, and all the benefit of the work, because for it a man is the envy of his neighbour. Even this is vanity and vexation of spirit.

5 The fool is clasping his hands, and eating his own flesh:

6 `Better is a handful with quietness, than two handfuls with labour and vexation of spirit.'

7 And I have turned, and I see a vain thing under the sun:

8 There is one, and there is not a second; even son or brother he hath not, and there is no end to all his labour! His eye also is not satisfied with riches, and he saith not , `For whom am I labouring and bereaving my soul of good?' This also is vanity, it is a sad travail.

9 The two are better than the one, in that they have a good reward by their labour.

10 For if they fall, the one raiseth up his companion, but woe to the one who falleth and there is not a second to raise him up!

Ecclesiastes in other translations

• KJV Ecclesiastes
• ASV Ecclesiastes
• Darby Ecclesiastes
• DRC Ecclesiastes
• WEB Ecclesiastes
• Webster Ecclesiastes

About this translation

The Young's Literal Translation (1898) is one of seven public-domain translations available in the OCC Bible Explorer. Use the full app to compare translations side by side, search across all translations, and explore Strong's Hebrew and Greek concordance entries linked to every word.