Chapter 4

Section title is "Evil Under the Sun"

Starts off this way:

1 Again I saw all the oppressions that are done under the sun. And behold, the tears of the oppressed, and they had no one to comfort them! On the side of their oppressors there was power, and there was no one to comfort them. [Ecc 4:1 ESV]

The earth is full of evil, and of those who do evil, those who take advantage of those with fewer resources, and the oppressed have no help nor hope of it.  Solomon thinks those who have not yet been born are better off than the living, because they have yet to experience evil.  What a verse for a service for a premature child, or a stillborn:

2 And I thought the dead who are already dead more fortunate than the living who are still alive. 3 But better than both is he who has not yet been and has not seen the evil deeds that are done under the sun. [Ecc 4:2-3 ESV]

2021-Here is ranking.  It is better to be dead than alive.  But it is better to be yet unborn than to be either alive or dead.  Can there be a more hopeless picture of humanity than this?

2024 - Abortion?  Better aborted than ever born?  Doubtful that's what was meant in context, but it does seem to fit.

2024 - Perhaps the most depressing chapter in the Bible. 

Then this...I'm starting to get a little depressed...

4  Then I saw that all toil and all skill in work come from a man's envy  of his neighbor. This also is vanity and a striving after wind. [Ecc 4:4  ESV]

It reads this way in NASB:

4  I have seen that every labor and every skill which is done is [the result of] rivalry between a man and his neighbor. This too is vanity  and striving after wind. [Ecc 4:4 NASB]

These two read like "keeping up with the Jones's". 

And here is NKJV:

4  Again, I saw that for all toil and every skillful work a man is envied  by his neighbor. This also [is] vanity and grasping for the wind. [Ecc  4:4 NKJV]

This translation turns it around a  bit.  In this translation, the successful neighbor finds himself the  envy of those around him.  Perhaps the best translation to express what  is common between these verses is that dissatisfaction with our lot in life leads some to believe everyone else has it better than they do.   Rivalry is then the motivation to work harder, to "get" more and so on.   Work done for this reason will never satisfy, never fulfill, never  achieve our goals.  The end of this kind of effort is mist and vapor,  wasted energy, wasted brain cells.

5 The fool folds his hands And consumes his own flesh. [Ecc 4:5 NKJV]  This verse is about the same in all translations.  The truly hopeless "withdraw" from the system, go underground, check out of the labor pool, and exist by stealing from others.  This doesn't work either.  The self will never be satisfied with existing by taking advantage of others.  The end result is self-destruction.  This is foolish.

The section concludes with this:

6 Better a handful [with] quietness Than both hands full, [together with] toil and grasping for the wind. [Ecc 4:6 NKJV]

Grasping for "affluence" is wasted time, wasted energy, wasted life.  Contentment with what we have - that daily work, food, and drink leave us with a quiet, peaceful mind, and this is the best available in this life.  Happiness is not based on possessions.  Socialism's intent is to equalize possessions.  It never works, and this paragraph explains why.

I sure wish this was compressible enough for FB..

2021-This does not seem to be talking so much about greed as a motivator, because the desire does not seem to be that intense - not seeking ultimate wealth.  What it seems to be saying is that even us little peons only work on our yards to one up the neighbor across the street.  This is all about keeping up with the Jones's as our primary motivator in life.  Better jet skis, better campers, better cars.  Always judging ourselves by the success that others have.  The summary is sort of buried out in the middle of vs 8:

[Ecc 4:8 ESV] ...yet there is no end to all his toil, and his eyes are never satisfied with riches, so that he never asks, "For whom am I toiling and depriving myself of pleasure?" This also is vanity and an unhappy business.

So busy that we never step back and look objectively at our situation.  The toil, the intense labor, according to Solomon, is mostly a waste of time, because it is going back to the dust anyway.  Why spend your life digging the world's grandest ditch when it will just fill up with water, then mud, then soil, then grow over as if it was never there after you're gone?  Why do that?  Surely there is something better.  But what?  He told us that before this punch line:   [Ecc 4:6 ESV] Better is a handful of quietness than two hands full of toil and a striving after wind.

The next verse starts with those who eschew companionship and traditional family to pursue their work with passion.  All they  have is toil and labor.  There's no end to it, and it benefits no one, while denying a pleasant and peaceful life to the one consumed with his own labor.

The next verse starts with "Two are better than one..."  I believe this is about marriage.  One verse says two in a bed stay warm, where one cannot.