Ecclesiastes 4:3-5

Complete Jewish Bible

³but happier than either of them is the one who has not yet been born, because he has not yet seen the evil things that are done under the sun.

⁴Next I realized that all effort and achievement stem from one person’s envy of another. This too is futility and feeding on wind.

⁵Fools fold their arms together
and eat their own flesh away.

Ecclesiastes 4:3-5

New International Version

³But better than both
is the one who has never been born,^(A)
who has not seen the evil
that is done under the sun.^(B)

⁴And 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.^(C)

⁵Fools fold their hands^(D)
and ruin themselves.

Complete Jewish Bible (CJB)

New International Version (NIV)