Add parallel Print Page Options

Better is one handful with peace
    than two fists full with toil and chasing wind.

Wealth without Someone with Which to Enjoy It is Futile

I turned again and saw another vanity under the sun. Sometimes a man is all alone with no companion; he also has neither son nor brother. Yet there is no end to all his toil, and his eye is not satisfied with wealth. He laments, “For whom am I toiling and depriving myself[a] of pleasure?” This also is vanity—it is an unhappy business!

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. Ecclesiastes 4:8 Literally “his soul”

Better one handful with tranquillity
    than two handfuls with toil(A)
    and chasing after the wind.

Again I saw something meaningless under the sun:

There was a man all alone;
    he had neither son nor brother.
There was no end to his toil,
    yet his eyes were not content(B) with his wealth.
“For whom am I toiling,” he asked,
    “and why am I depriving myself of enjoyment?”
This too is meaningless—
    a miserable business!

Read full chapter