Ecclesiastes 4:5
The fool folds his hands together, and eats his own flesh.
LXX2012 (US English)
In The King James Version
The fool foldeth his hands together, and eateth his own flesh.
In Context
6Better is a handful of rest than two handfuls of trouble and waywardness of spirit.
Cross References
Proverbs 6:9How long will you lie, O sluggard? and when will you awake out of sleep?
Proverbs 6:11Then poverty comes upon you as an evil traveller, and lack as a swift courier: but if you be diligent, your harvest shall arrive as a fountain, and poverty shall flee away as a bad courier.
Proverbs 12:27A deceitful man shall catch no game; but a + 12:27 Gr. pure. blameless man is a precious possession.
Proverbs 20:4A sluggard when reproached is not ashamed: so also he who borrows corn in harvest.
Isaiah 9:20But one shall turn aside to the right hand, for he shall be hungry; and shall eat on the left, and a man shall by no means be satisfied with eating the flesh of his own arm.
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 →