Ecclesiastes 4:5
The foolish man folds his hands together, and he consumes his own flesh, saying:
Catholic Public Domain Version
In The King James Version
The fool foldeth his hands together, and eateth his own flesh.
In Context
6“A handful with rest is better than both hands filled with labors and with affliction of the soul.”
Cross References
Proverbs 6:9How long will you slumber, you lazy one? When will you rise up from your sleep?
Proverbs 6:11and then destitution will meet with you, like a traveler, and poverty, like an armed man. Yet truly, if you would be diligent, then your harvest will arrive like a fountain, and destitution will flee far from you.
Proverbs 12:27The dishonest will not discover gain. But the substance of a man will be like precious gold.
Proverbs 20:4Because of the cold, the lazy one was not willing to plough. Therefore, in the summer, he will beg, and it will not be given to him.
Isaiah 9:20And he will turn toward the right, and he will be hungry. And he will eat toward the left, and he will not be satisfied. Each one will eat the flesh of his own arm: Manasseh Ephraim, and Ephraim Manasseh, and together they will be against Judah.
Matthew Henry on Ecclesiastes 4:5-7
The Prevalence of Oppression. 4 Again, I considered all travail, and every right work, that for this a man is envied of his neighbour. This is also vanity and vexation of spirit. 5 The fool foldeth his hands together, and eateth his own flesh. 6 Better is a handful with quietness, than both the hands full with travail and vexation of spirit. Here Solomon returns to the observation and consideration of the vanity and vexation of spirit that attend the business of this world, which he had spoken of before, ch. ii.… Read the whole commentary →