Ecclesiastes 4:6
in Ecclesiastes 4Better one handful with tranquility than two handfuls with toil and pursuit of the wind.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Better is a handful, with quietness, than two handfuls with labor and striving after wind.
KJV
Better is an handful with quietness, than both the hands full with travail and vexation of spirit.
⋯
This verse in Ecclesiastes 4
Commentary
11 notes on this verse"Better is one handful of pleasantness than two fistfuls of labour and vexation of the spirit." It is better to have modest power, than great riches of sins. And in Proverbs it says, "To receive a little through righteousness is better than gaining much by injustice." [Prov. 16, 8.] Justice rightly has rest, injustice toil. And since a single number is always seen in a good context and a dual seen as wickedness, therefore one fist has rest, and two hands are full of toil.
This site's exposition
The fool folds his hands
on Ecclesiastes 4:5-6
Two errors stand side by side: The fool folds his hands and consumes his own flesh, and the driven man's two hands stay full. Between them stands the proverb, Better one handful with tranquility than two handfuls with toil. Enough gained in peace outweighs more at the cost of rest.
This site's exposition
Better one handful with tranquility
The voices divide on who speaks. Wesley and Henry hear the fool of verse 5, who excuses his idleness with a true saying, and Barnes prefers this to the Teacher's counsel. Jerome takes it as wise counsel: a little gained with righteousness is better than much gained by injustice.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
And therefore it is better for us with unbroken continuance to aim at this very slender profit in the desert, from which no secular cares, no worldly distractions, no pride of vainglory and vanity can detract, and which the pressure of no daily wants can lessen (for "a small thing that the righteous hath is better than great riches of the ungodly") rather than to pursue those larger profits which even if they are procured by the most valuable conversion of many, are yet absorbed by the claims of secular life and the daily leakage of distractions. For, as Solomon says, "Better is a single handful with rest than both hands full with labour and vexation of mind." And in these allusions and inconveniences all that are at all weak are sure to be entangled, as while they are even doubtful of their own salvation, and themselves stand in need of the teaching and instruction of others, they are incited by the devil's tricks to convert and guide others, and as, even if they succeed in gaining any advantage from the conversion of some, they waste by their impatience and rude manners whatever they have gained.
The "chasing after wind," I believe, refers to the will of the soul caught up with passions. That is why a handful of virtue is better than two handfuls of wickedness, ignorance and "chasing after wind." … It is as if someone said it is …
The Medieval Church1 voice
A commentator
BonaventureCommentary on Ecclesiastes, Chapter 4 · Written in the 13th century.
proposed
But in this laziness of sloth he seems to himself to have an excuse of wisdom; whence he also adds, saying: "Better is a handful with rest than both hands full with labor and affliction of spirit." This is the maxim of the sluggard, by …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
As the sluggard's argument for the excuse of himself in his idleness. He folds his hands together, and abuses and misapplies a good truth for his justification, as if, because a little with quietness is better than abundance with strife, therefore a little with idleness is better than abundance with honest labour: thus wise in his own conceit is he, Prov. xxvi.
Better - These are the words of the sluggard, making this apology for his idleness, That his little with ease, is better than great riches got with much trouble.
3 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
Better is a handful with quietness,....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
Better is a handful with quietness - These may be the words of the slothful man, and spoken in vindication of his idleness; as if he had said, “Every man who labors and amasses property is the object of envy, and is marked by the oppressor as a subject for spoil; better, therefore, to act as I do; gain little, and have little, and enjoy my handful with quietness.” Or the words may contain Solomon’s reflection on the subject.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Either the fool’s sarcasm on his successful but restless neighbor; or the comment of Solomon recommending contentment with a moderate competence. The former meaning seems preferable.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ט֕וֹב | tov | [is] good | H2896 → | 538 times |
| מְלֹ֥א | melo' | fullness of | H4393 → | |
| כַ֖ף | khaf | hand of | H3709 → | |
| נָ֑חַת | nachat | quietness | H5183 → | 7 times |
| מִמְּלֹ֥א | mimelo' | more than [the] fullness of | H4393 → | |
| חָפְנַ֛יִם | chafenayim | two hands | H2651 → | |
| עָמָ֖ל | ʾamal | toil | H5999 → | 55 times |
| וּרְע֥וּת | ureut | and striving of | H7469 → | 7 times |
| רֽוּחַ׃ | ruach | wind | H7307 → | 378 times |
ט֕וֹב[is] good
tovH2896 →538 times
מְלֹ֥אfullness of
melo'H4393 →
כַ֖ףhand of
khafH3709 →
נָ֑חַתquietness
nachatH5183 →7 times
מִמְּלֹ֥אmore than [the] fullness of
mimelo'H4393 →
חָפְנַ֛יִםtwo hands
chafenayimH2651 →
עָמָ֖לtoil
ʾamalH5999 →55 times
וּרְע֥וּתand striving of
ureutH7469 →7 times
רֽוּחַ׃wind
ruachH7307 →378 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Proverbs 17:1Better a dry morsel in quietness than a house full of feasting with strife.
it leads to
- Psalms 37:16
Better is the little of the righteous than the abundance of many who are wicked.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Proverbs 15:17
Better a dish of vegetables where there is love than a fattened ox with hatred.
- Proverbs 21:19
Better to live in the desert than with a contentious and ill-tempered wife.
- Proverbs 21:9
Better to live on a corner of the roof than to share a house with a quarrelsome wife.
- Psalms 37:16
Through
Proverbs 16:8Better a little with righteousness than great gain with injustice.
it leads to
- Proverbs 15:16
Better a little with the fear of the LORD than great treasure with turmoil.
- 1 Timothy 6:6–9
Of course, godliness with contentment is great gain.
- Proverbs 15:16
Through
Psalms 37:16Better is the little of the righteous than the abundance of many who are wicked.
it leads to
- Proverbs 16:8
Better a little with righteousness than great gain with injustice.
- Proverbs 15:16–17
Better a little with the fear of the LORD than great treasure with turmoil.
- Proverbs 16:8
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Ecclesiastes
This page draws on 11 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Bonaventure, Commentary on Ecclesiastes, Chapter 4; Charles Bridges, An Exposition of the Book of Ecclesiastes; Evagrius Ponticus, SCHOLIA ON ECCLESIASTES 27:4.6; Jerome, Commentary on Ecclesiastes; John Cassian, CONFERENCE 24:13; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.