Parallel Verses
International Standard Version
Then I examined all sorts of work, including all kinds of excellent achievements that create envy in others. This also is pointless and chasing after the wind.
New American Standard Bible
I have seen that every labor and every
King James Version
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.
Holman Bible
I saw that all labor and all skillful work is due to a man’s jealousy of his friend.
American Standard Version
Then I saw all labor and every skilful work, that for this a man is envied of his neighbor. This also is vanity and a striving after wind.
Amplified
I have seen that every [effort in] labor and every skill in work comes from man’s rivalry with his neighbor. This too is vanity (futility, false pride) and chasing after the wind.
Bible in Basic English
And I saw that the cause of all the work and of everything which is done well was man's envy of his neighbour. This again is to no purpose and a desire for wind.
Darby Translation
And I saw all labour, and all success of work, that it is man's jealousy of his neighbour. This also is vanity and pursuit of the wind.
Julia Smith Translation
And I saw all the labor and all the success of the work, for this the jealousy of a man from his neighbor. Also this is vanity and striving of spirit.
King James 2000
Again, I considered all toil, and every skillful work, that for this a man is envied by his neighbor. This is also vanity and grasping after the wind.
Lexham Expanded Bible
I also realized that all [of the] toil and all [of] the skillful work that is done--it [is] envy between one man and {another}. This also [is] vanity and chasing wind!
Modern King James verseion
Again, I considered all labor, and every right work, that for this a man is envied by his neighbor. This is also vanity and vexation of spirit.
Modern Spelling Tyndale-Coverdale
Again, I saw that all travail and diligence of labour was hated of every man. This is also a vain thing, and a vexation of mind.
NET Bible
Then I considered all the skillful work that is done: Surely it is nothing more than competition between one person and another. This also is profitless -- like chasing the wind.
New Heart English Bible
Then I saw all the labor and achievement that is the envy of a man's neighbor. This also is vanity and a striving after wind.
The Emphasized Bible
Then saw, I, all the toil and all the skill of the work, that, for this, a man was envied of his neighbour, - even this, was vanity, and a feeding on wind.
Webster
Again, I considered all labor, and every right work, that for this a man is envied by his neighbor. This is also vanity and vexation of spirit.
World English Bible
Then I saw all the labor and achievement that is the envy of a man's neighbor. This also is vanity and a striving after wind.
Youngs Literal Translation
And I have seen all the labour, and all the benefit of the work, because for it a man is the envy of his neighbour. Even this is vanity and vexation of spirit.
Topics
Interlinear
Ra'ah
`amal
Rea`
Word Count of 19 Translations in Ecclesiastes 4:4
Verse Info
Context Readings
People Need Balance In Their Approach To Labor
3 Better than both of them is someone who has not yet been born, because he hasn't experienced evil on earth. 4 Then I examined all sorts of work, including all kinds of excellent achievements that create envy in others. This also is pointless and chasing after the wind. 5 The fool crosses his arms and starves himself.
Names
Cross References
Ecclesiastes 1:14
I observed every activity done on earth. My conclusion: all of it is pointless like chasing after the wind.
Ecclesiastes 2:21
For sometimes people who strive to obtain wisdom, knowledge, and equity leave everything as an inheritance to a person who never worked for it. This, too, is pointless and greatly troublesome.
Genesis 4:4-8
while Abel brought the best parts of some of the firstborn from his flock. The LORD looked favorably upon Abel and his offering,
Genesis 37:2-11
This is a record of Jacob's descendants.
1 Samuel 18:8-9
Saul was very angry and he did not like what the women sang. He told himself, "They have attributed tens of thousands to David, but to me they have attributed thousands. What else can he have but the kingdom?"
1 Samuel 18:14-16
David was successful in all that he did, for the LORD was with him.
1 Samuel 18:29-30
Then Saul was even more afraid of David, and Saul was David's enemy from that time on.
Proverbs 27:4
Wrath can be fierce and anger overwhelms but who can stand up to jealousy?
Ecclesiastes 2:26
After all, to the person who is good in God's sight, he gives wisdom, knowledge, and joy, but to the sinner he gives the troublesome task of acquiring and accumulating in order to leave it to someone who is good in the sight of God. This also is pointless and chasing after the wind.
Ecclesiastes 4:16
There was no end to all of his subjects or to all of the people who had come before them. But those who come along afterward will not be happy with him. This is also pointless and a chasing after wind.
Ecclesiastes 6:9
It is better to focus on what you can see than to meander after your self-interest; this also is pointless and a chasing after wind.
Ecclesiastes 6:11
Because many words lead to pointlessness, how do people benefit from this? 12Who knows what is best for people in this life, every day of their pointless lives that they pass through like a shadow? Who informs people on earth what will come along after them?
Matthew 27:18
He did this because he knew that they had handed him over out of jealousy.
Acts 7:9
"Joseph's brothers became jealous of him and sold Joseph as a slave in Egypt. However, God was with him
James 4:5
Or do you think the Scripture means nothing when it says that the Spirit that God caused to live in us jealously yearns for us?
1 John 3:12
Do not be like Cain, who was from the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because what he was doing was evil and his brother's actions were righteous.