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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!

Friends and Family Can Help One Another in Life

Two are better than the one, for they enjoy a better reward for their toil.

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Footnotes

  1. Ecclesiastes 4:8 Literally “his soul”

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(A) 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!

Two are better than one,
    because they have a good return for their labor:

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