| 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. | And I saw that all toil and all achievement spring from one person’s envy of another. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind. |
| Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor. | Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor. |
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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. | If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up. |
| If a man prevails against one who is alone, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken. | Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken. |
