1 Again I looked and saw all the oppression that was taking place under the sun: I saw the tears of the oppressed-- and they have no comforter; power was on the side of their oppressors-- and they have no comforter.
2 And I declared that the dead, who had already died, are happier than the living, who are still alive.
3 But better than both is he who has not yet been, who has not seen the evil that is done under the sun.
4 And I saw that all labor and all achievement spring from man's envy of his neighbor. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.
5 The fool folds his hands and ruins himself.
9 Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work: