| And though one might prevail against another, two will withstand one. A threefold cord is not quickly broken. | A person standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back-to-back and conquer. Three are even better, for a triple-braided cord is not easily broken. |
| For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven. | For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven. |
| For if they fall, one will lift up the other; but woe to one who is alone and falls and does not have another to help. | If one person falls, the other can reach out and help. But someone who falls alone is in real trouble. |
| Do not say, “Why were the former days better than these?” For it is not from wisdom that you ask this. | Don’t long for “the good old days.” This is not wise. |
| The lover of money will not be satisfied with money; nor the lover of wealth, with gain. This also is vanity. | Those who love money will never have enough. How meaningless to think that wealth brings true happiness! |
| Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. | Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed. |
| Just as you do not know how the breath comes to the bones in the mother's womb, so you do not know the work of God, who makes everything. | Just as you cannot understand the path of the wind or the mystery of a tiny baby growing in its mother’s womb, so you cannot understand the activity of God, who does all things. |
| Banish anxiety from your mind, and put away pain from your body; for youth and the dawn of life are vanity. | So refuse to worry, and keep your body healthy. But remember that youth, with a whole life before you, is meaningless. |
| In the day of prosperity be joyful, and in the day of adversity consider; God has made the one as well as the other, so that mortals may not find out anything that will come after them. | Enjoy prosperity while you can, but when hard times strike, realize that both come from God. Remember that nothing is certain in this life. |
| For in much wisdom is much vexation, and those who increase knowledge increase sorrow. | The greater my wisdom, the greater my grief. To increase knowledge only increases sorrow. |
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