Ecclesiastes 4:1-10

¹Then I turned to consider all the ways people oppress others here on earth. Look at the tears of the oppressed—there's no one to comfort them! Powerful people oppress them, and there's no one to comfort them!

²I congratulated those who were already dead, for the dead are better off than those who are still alive and being oppressed.

³But best of all are those who have never existed—they haven't seen the evil things people do to each other here on earth.

⁴I observed that every skill in work comes from competition with others. Once again this is hard to understand, like trying to hold on to the elusive wind.

⁵Fools fold their arms and do nothing—so in the end they're all used up.

⁶It's better to earn a little without stress than a lot with too much stress and chasing after the wind.

⁷Then I turned to consider something else here on earth that is also frustratingly hard to understand.

⁸What about someone who has no family to help him, no brother or son, who works all the time, but isn't satisfied with the money he makes. “Who am I working for?” he asks himself. “Why am I preventing myself from enjoying life?” Such a situation is hard to explain—it's an evil business!

⁹Two are better than one, for they can help each other in their work.

¹⁰If one of them falls down, the other can help them up, but how sad it is for someone who falls down and doesn't have anyone to help them up.