Ecclesiastes 4:9–12
Two can do more than one: they lift up, keep warm, and stand firm
Study it word by word9Two are better than one, because they have good wages for their toil.
10For if they fall, the one will lift up his companion; but woe to him, the one who falls and there is no second to lift him up!
11Also, if two lie down, they have warmth; but for one how can there be warmth?
12And if one overpowers him, the two will stand against him; and the threefold cord is not quickly broken.
In its context
7And I turned and saw vapor under the sun:
8There is one, and no second; he has neither son nor brother, and there is no end to all his toil; also his eye is not satisfied with riches. “And for whom am I toiling and depriving my soul of good?” This too is vapor, and it is a bad occupation.
…
13Better is a poor and wise youth than an old and senseless king who no longer knows how to be warned.
14For from the house of the prisoners he came out to reign, though also in his kingdom he was born poor.
Its words in the original
- טוֹבִיםtovim· good
Good in the widest sense: pleasant, beautiful, useful, right, of good quality. As a noun, "good", "good things", "well-being".
- שְּׁנַיִםshenayim· two
Two.
- אֶחָדechad· one
One; only, the same. Also "first" in a series.
- שָׂכָרsachar· wages
Pay for work; wages, reward.
- עֲמָלָamala· trouble, toil
Hard work, trouble, suffering.
- יִפֹּלוּyipolu· fall
Fall; also fall upon (attack), lie down, desert to someone. In the causative form, "make fall", throw down, cast (lots).
- יָקִיםyakim· rise, stand, establish
Rise, stand up; also stand firm, establish or fulfill something. "Rise against" is to attack.
- חֲבֵרchaver· companion, united
Companion, joined to others; "united" as a single group.
- לl· woe!
Woe! A cry of lament.
- שֵׁנִיsheni· second
Second; also "again".
- יִשְׁכְּבוּyishkvu· lie down
Lie down: to sleep, or for sexual relations ("lie with"). "Lie down with one's fathers" is to die.
- חַםcham· be warm
Be hot, grow warm.
- יֵחָםyecham· mate, be in heat
Be in heat, mate (said of animals).
- יִתְקְפyitkf· overpower, prevail
To prevail over someone, to overpower him.
- יַעַמְדוּyaamdu· stand
Stand; stay, remain, endure. "Stand before" someone is to serve him or be in his presence. In another form of the verb, set up, place, appoint.
- נֶגְדּnegd· in front of, counterpart
In front of, opposite, before. The full phrase "as in front of him" means someone who corresponds to him, a counterpart.
- חוּטchut· thread
Thread, cord; a measuring line.
- מְשֻׁלָּשׁmeshulash· three years old
Three years old; threefold.
- מְהֵרָהmehera· haste, quickly
Haste; as an adverb, "quickly."
- יִנָּתֵקyinatek· tear off, break
Tear off, break by pulling.