Ecclesiastes 4:7-12

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

⁷Again, I saw vanity under the sun: ⁸the case of solitary individuals, without sons or brothers; yet there is no end to all their toil, and their eyes are never satisfied with riches. “For whom am I toiling,” they ask, “and depriving myself of pleasure?” This also is vanity and an unhappy business.^(A)

The Value of a Friend

⁹Two are better than one because they have a good reward for their toil. ¹⁰For if they fall, one will lift up the other, but woe to one who is alone and falls and does not have another to help. ¹¹Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone?^(B) ¹²And though one might prevail against another, two will withstand one. A threefold cord is not quickly broken.

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Ecclesiastes 4:7-12

New American Standard Bible

⁷Then I looked again at futility under the sun. ⁸There was a man without a ^[a]dependent, having neither a son nor a brother, yet there was no end to all his labor. Indeed, ^(A)his eyes were not satisfied with riches, and he never asked, “And ^(B)for whom do I labor and deprive myself of pleasure?” This too is futility, and it is an ^(C)unhappy task.

⁹Two are better than one because they have a good return for their labor; ¹⁰for if ^[b]either of them falls, the one will lift up his companion. But woe to the one who falls when there is not ^[c]another to lift him up! ¹¹Furthermore, if two lie down together they ^[d]keep warm, but ^(D)how can one be warm alone? ¹²And if ^[e]one can overpower him who is alone, two can resist him. A cord of three strands is not quickly torn apart.