Ecclesiastes 4:11
in Ecclesiastes 4Again, if two lie down together, they will keep warm; but how can one keep warm alone?
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Again, if two lie together, then they have warmth; but how can one be warm alone?
KJV
Again, if two lie together, then they have heat: but how can one be warm alone?
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This verse in Ecclesiastes 4
Commentary
5 notes on this verseAs for the advantage in preserving he adds: "And if two sleep together, they will warm each other," that is, they will be preserved from the cold: Ephesians 5: "No one has hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it." The solitary man lacks …
This site's exposition
Two are better than one
on Ecclesiastes 4:9-12
Against the lone man, the Teacher argues for companionship in four parts: a good return, help to lift him up, warmth together, and strength. The case closes on its proverb, a cord of three strands is not quickly broken, read since the Targum as friendship strengthened by a third.
This site's exposition
if two lie down together
The Targum adds in the winter and takes the two as a man and his wife, and Gill takes it as good for others too. To Bonaventure, the two keep warm and are kept from the cold. The one who lies down alone lacks that help.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
"Two are better than one, for they get a greater return for their labour. For should they fall, one can raise the other; but woe to him who is alone when he falls and there is no one to raise him! Also, if two sleep together they keep warm, but how can one be warm alone? Where one can be overpowered, two can resist attack; A three-ply cord is not easily severed!"
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
Again, if two lie together, then they have heat,.... The Targum adds, in the winter; when it is a cold season, they warm one another by lying together. The Targum interprets it of a man and his wife; it is true of others; see 1Ki 1:1; but how can one be warm alone? not soon, nor easily, in time of cold weather.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
They can be warm. [To be understood] according to its apparent meaning, regarding male and female, who are aroused by one another and procreate.
3 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
For if they fall. [To be understood] according to its apparent meaning.
And if an individual attacks. If thieves came to attack him, if they are two, they will stand up to them, and certainly, if they are three, “and the threefold cord is not quickly severed.
For if one of them falls upon the bed and lies sick, the other will cause his friend to rise by his prayer; but if there is only one innocent man in a generation, if he falls upon the bed and lies sick, he has no companion in his generation to pray for him, yet shall he rise by his own merit from his sickness.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 2 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
9 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| גַּ֛ם | gam | also | H1571 → | 769 times |
| אִם־ | ʾim- | if | H518 → | 1069 times |
| יִשְׁכְּב֥וּ | yishkevu | they will lie down | H7901 → | |
| שְׁנַ֖יִם | shenayim | two [people] | H8147 → | 768 times |
| וְחַ֣ם | vecham | and it will be warm | H2552 → | |
| לָהֶ֑ם | lahem | to <the> them | ||
| וּלְאֶחָ֖ד | uleechad | and to one [person] | H259 → | 971 times |
| אֵ֥יךְ | ʾeikh | how? | H349 → | |
| יֵחָֽם׃ | yecham | will it be warm | H2552 → |
גַּ֛םalso
gamH1571 →769 times
אִם־if
ʾim-H518 →1069 times
יִשְׁכְּב֥וּthey will lie down
yishkevuH7901 →
שְׁנַ֖יִםtwo [people]
shenayimH8147 →768 times
וְחַ֣םand it will be warm
vechamH2552 →
לָהֶ֑םto <the> them
lahem
וּלְאֶחָ֖דand to one [person]
uleechadH259 →971 times
אֵ֥יךְhow?
ʾeikhH349 →
יֵחָֽם׃will it be warm
yechamH2552 →
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Ecclesiastes
This page draws on Bonaventure, Commentary on Ecclesiastes, Chapter 4; Jerome, Commentary on Ecclesiastes; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.