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4:1  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.
4:2  Therefore I praised the dead who are already dead more than the living who are yet alive.
4:3  Yea, better is he than both, who has not yet been, who has not seen the evil work that is done under the sun.
4:4  Again, I considered all toil, and every skillful work, that for this a man is envied by his neighbor. This is also vanity and grasping after the wind.
4:5  The fool folds his hands together, and eats his own flesh.
4:6  Better is a handful with quietness, than both hands full with toil and grasping for the wind.
4:7  Then I returned, and I saw vanity under the sun.
4:8  There is one alone, and there is not a second; yea, he has neither child nor brother: yet is there no end of all his labor; neither is his eye satisfied with riches; neither says he, For whom do I labor, and deprive my soul of good? This is also vanity, yea, it is a heavy travail.
4:9  Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labor.
4:10  For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falls; for he has not another to help him up.
4:11  Again, if two lie together, then they have heat: but how can one be warm alone?
4:12  And if one prevails against him, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken.
4:13  Better is a poor and wise child than an old and foolish king, who will no longer be admonished.
4:14  For out of prison he comes to reign; yet he that is born in his kingdom might become poor.
4:15  I considered all the living who walk under the sun, with the second child that shall stand up in his place.
4:16  There is no end of all the people, even of all that have been before them: they also that come after him shall not rejoice in him. Surely this also is vanity and grasping after the wind.