Ecclesiastes 4:6 BSB

Ecclesiastes 4:6

Better one handful with tranquility than two handfuls with toil and pursuit of the wind.

BSB

Parallel translations (2) ▾

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.

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Commentary

2 voices

Jerome

Commentary on Ecclesiastes (420)

"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.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

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.

Voices on this verse

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Original language & word study

9 tagged words

Original	Transliteration	Meaning	Word study
ט֕וֹב	Tov	[is] good	H2896 →
מְלֹ֥א	me.Lo'	fullness of	H4393 →
כַ֖ף	khaf	hand of	H3709 →
נָ֑חַת	Na.chat	quietness	H5183 →
מִמְּלֹ֥א	mi.me.Lo'	more than [the] fullness of	H4393 →
חָפְנַ֛יִם	cha.fe.Na.yim	two hands	H2651 →
עָמָ֖ל	'a.Mal	toil	H5999 →
וּרְע֥וּת	u.re.'Ut	and striving of	H7469 →
רֽוּחַ׃	Ru.ach	wind	H7307 →

Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread: the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.

The walk

The walk8

Where the connections lead

Follow this verse’s cross-references two steps out. Each card is a verse this one points to, and beneath it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several different paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it. Every stop shows its own words, and every stop is a page.

Through
Proverbs 17:1
Better a dry morsel in quietness than a house full of feasting with strife.
leads to
- Psalms 37:16
  Better is the little of the righteous than the abundance of many who are wicked.
  Reached by 2 independent 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.
Through
Proverbs 16:8
Better a little with righteousness than great gain with injustice.
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.
Through
Psalms 37:16
Better is the little of the righteous than the abundance of many who are wicked.
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.

About Ecclesiastes

King Solomon in Old Age — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain

Ecclesiastes: the study guide →Read chapter 4 →The featured study →

Continue: Ecclesiastes 4 →

01Commentary

The record, by era

Voices on this verse

02Original language & word study

03The walk

Where the connections lead

04Related verses

06About Ecclesiastes

The record, by era

Where the connections lead

Commentary

Original language & word study

The walk

Related verses

About Ecclesiastes