ECCLESIASTES 4

OPPRESSION, TOIL, FRIENDLESSNESS

The Teacher discusses the toil and pain in the world, claiming the dead are better off than the living. For the living it is better to remain openhanded, carefully awaiting what will happen. Similarly, the Teacher argues that it is better to live with peace and open-mindedness rather than clinging to worry. If we all have the same fate, why work our lives away? We should at least try to find some joy. 

One of the best things we can have in this world is good company. It’s better to work together and support one another than toil and labor alone. By yourself, you are vulnerable, but a cord of three strands is not easily broken. It is better to be poor and wise than old and foolish, at least you still have your potential. 

Ecclesiastes 4:9 - Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor: If either of them falls down, one can help the other up.