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. | Then I came to realize that all toil and skill in work derive from one person’s envy of another. This also is vanity and a chase after the wind. |
Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor. | Two are better than one: they earn a far greater reward for their toil. |
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For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow; but woe to him who is alone when he falls, and doesn’t have another to lift him up. | And if one should fall, his companion will help him up. How pathetic is the man who is alone and falls and has no one to assist him to his feet. |
If a man prevails against one who is alone, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken. | And where a single man can be overcome, two together will be able to resist. A cord with three strands is not easily broken. |