Ecclesiastes, the Preacher

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- Chapter 4 -

The evil of oppression

I thought some more about all the suffering that people are made to experience on the earth. I thought about the tears of people who were oppressed and who had no one to comfort them. Those who oppress them have power, and there is no one able to comfort the oppressed.

So I thought that those who are already dead are more fortunate than those who are still alive.

And those who have not yet been born are even more fortunate than those two kinds of people, because those who have not been born have not seen all the evil things that are done on the earth.

I also thought about all the hard work that people do and the things they are able to accomplish. And I thought about how someone who works hard sometimes makes his neighbor jealous. I decided that this also is something that is not accomplishing anything useful. It is like trying to control the wind.

Foolish people refuse to work. They sit idly with their hands folded and do not work. So they ruin themselves.

So some say, “It is better to be content with working quietly for a little bit of money, than to work anxiously and try to get a lot of money, which is as useless as trying to control the wind.”

I thought about something else that happens on the earth that seems useless.

There are people who live alone; they do not have a family nor even children or any brothers or sisters living with them. Every day they work very hard without stopping; they make a lot of money, but they are never satisfied with the things that they get. They ask themselves, “Why am I working so hard; whom am I actually helping? Why am I not doing things that I would enjoy doing? What I have been doing seems useless.” This is very bad.

Having someone work with you is better than being by yourself all the time. If you have a friend, he can help you to do your work.

If you fall down, he can help you get up again. But if you fall down when you are alone, you will have trouble, because there is no one to help you stand up.

Similarly, if two people lie down together, they can help each other to remain warm. But someone who sleeps alone will certainly not be warm.

Someone who is alone can easily be attacked and defeated by another person, but two people can help each other and resist someone who attacks them. Three people can defend themselves even more easily, like a rope that is made from three cords is harder to break than a rope made from two cords.

The futility of power

A young man who is poor but wise is a better person than a foolish old king who refuses to pay attention when people try to give him good advice.

It is possible for a young man like that to succeed and some day become king, even if his parents were poor or even if he was in prison in the past.

But then some other young man becomes king, and everyone starts to support him.

Large crowds of people crowd around him. But after a few years, they will be tired of him, too. So it is all senseless, like trying to control the wind.

The evil of oppression

Then I returned and saw all the oppressions that are done under the sun: and behold, the tears of those who were oppressed, and they had no comforter; and on the side of their oppressors there was power; but they had no comforter.

Therefore I praised the dead who have been long dead more than the living who are yet alive.

Yes, better than them both is him who has not yet been, who has not seen the evil work that is done under the sun.

Then I saw all the labor and achievement that is the envy of a man’s neighbor. This also is vanity and a striving after wind.

The fool folds his hands together and ruins himself.

Better is a handful, with quietness, than two handfuls with labor and chasing after wind.

Then I returned and saw vanity under the sun.

There is one who is alone, and he has neither son nor brother. There is no end to all of his labor, neither are his eyes satisfied with wealth. “For whom then do I labor and deprive my soul of enjoyment?” This also is vanity. Yes, it is a miserable business.

Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor.

For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow; but woe to him who is alone when he falls, and doesn’t have another to lift him up.

Again, if two lie together, then they have warmth; but how can one keep warm alone?

If a man prevails against one who is alone, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken.

The futility of power

Better is a poor and wise youth than an old and foolish king who doesn’t know how to receive admonition any more.

For out of prison he came out to be king; yes, even in his kingdom he was born poor.

I saw all the living who walk under the sun, that they were with the youth, the other, who succeeded him.

There was no end of all the people, even of all them over whom he was—yet those who come after shall not rejoice in him. Surely this also is vanity and a chasing after wind.