Ecclesiastes 4:6

So I say, “It is better to be content with not having much money, than to work very hard and try to get a lot of money, which is as useless as chasing the wind.”

Translation for Translators

In The King James Version

Better is an handful with quietness, than both the hands full with travail and vexation of spirit.

In Context

5Foolish people refuse to work; they sit idly, with their hands folded, and do not work. So they ruin themselves.

7I thought about something else that happens on the earth [MTY] that seems senseless.

Read all of Ecclesiastes 4

Cross References

Proverbs 15:16Being poor and revering Yahweh is better than being rich and having a lot of troubles.

Proverbs 16:8It is better to have a small amount of money that is earned honestly than to have a lot of money that is acquired dishonestly.

Ecclesiastes 1:14It seems that nothing that happens on the earth really enables us to do anything useful. It is like [MET] chasing the wind.

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 →

This Verse In Other Editions

Study Ecclesiastes 4:6