2 So I admired the dead, who had already died, above the living, who are still alive. 3 But better than both is he who has not yet existed, who has not seen the evil that is done under the sun. 4 I saw that all labor and success spring from a man’s envy of his neighbor. This too is futile and a pursuit of the wind.
Ecclesiastes 4:2–4
Semantically similar passages
Ecclesiastes 2:17–19
17 So I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. For everything is futile and a pursuit of the wind. 18 I hated all for which I had toiled under the sun, because I must leave it to the man who comes after me. 19 And who knows whether t…
Ecclesiastes 1:13–15
13 And I set my mind to seek and explore by wisdom all that is done under heaven. What a heavy burden God has laid upon the sons of men to occupy them! 14 I have seen all the things that are done under the sun, and have found them all to be futile, a pursuit of the… 15 …
Ecclesiastes 9:4–6
4 There is hope, however, for anyone who is among the living; for even a live dog is better than a dead lion. 5 For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing. They have no further reward, because the memory of them is forgotten. 6 Their love, thei…
Ecclesiastes 6:1–2
1 There is another evil I have seen under the sun, and it weighs heavily upon mankind: 2 God gives a man riches, wealth, and honor, so that he lacks nothing his heart desires; but God does not allow him to enjoy them. Instead, a stranger will enjoy them. This is f…
Ecclesiastes 6:8–10
8 What advantage, then, has the wise man over the fool? What gain comes to the poor man who knows how to conduct himself before others? 9 Better what the eye can see than the wandering of desire. This too is futile and a pursuit of the wind. 10 Whatever exists was nam…
Ecclesiastes 6:4–6
4 For a stillborn child enters in futility and departs in darkness, and his name is shrouded in obscurity. 5 The child, though neither seeing the sun nor knowing anything, has more rest than that man, 6 even if he lives a thousand years twice over but fails to enjoy…
Ecclesiastes 7:14–16
14 In the day of prosperity, be joyful, but in the day of adversity, consider this: God has made one of these along with the other, so that a man cannot discover anything that will come after him. 15 In my futile life I have seen both of these: A righteous man peris…
Psalms 49:9–11
9 that he should live on forever and not see decay. 10 For it is clear that wise men die, and the foolish and the senseless both perish and leave their wealth to others. 11 Their graves are their eternal homes— their dwellings for endless generations— even though their…
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