For if they fall, one will lift up his companion. But woe to him who is alone when he falls, For he has no one to help him up.
Parallel translations
- WEB For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow; but woe to him who is alone when he falls, and doesn’t have another to lift him up.
- KJV For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up.
- BSB For if one falls down, his companion can lift him up; but pity the one who falls without another to help him up!
- NASB for if either of them falls, the one will lift up his companion. But woe to the one who falls when there is not another to lift him up!
- NLT If one person falls, the other can reach out and help. But someone who falls alone is in real trouble.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Companions can lift each other up when they stumble, but the solitary person who falls has no one to help. It matters because human frailty makes mutual support essential.
Overview
The Preacher gives the first concrete benefit of companionship: rescue in times of failure. 'Woe to him who is alone' underscores the peril of isolation in a fallen, fragile world. The verse foreshadows the New Testament's call to restore and support one another (Galatians 6:1-2), reflecting the care Christ models for His people.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 15
- 1 Th 5:11Therefore exhort one another, and build each other up, even as you also do.
- 1 Th 4:18Therefore comfort one another with these words.
- Isa 35:3–4Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees.
- Gal 6:1Brothers, even if a man is caught in some fault, you who are spiritual must restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; looking to yourself so that you also aren’t tempted.
- Job 4:3–4Behold, you have instructed many, you have strengthened the weak hands.
- 1 Sam 23:16Jonathan, Saul’s son, arose, and went to David into the woods, and strengthened his hand in God.
- Luke 22:31–32The Lord said, “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan asked to have you, that he might sift you as wheat,
- 2 Sam 14:6Your servant had two sons, and they both fought together in the field, and there was no one to part them, but the one struck the other, and killed him.
- Deut 9:19–20For I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure with which Yahweh was angry against you to destroy you. But Yahweh listened to me that time also.
- Exod 32:2–4Aaron said to them, “Take off the golden rings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them to me.”
- 2 Sam 12:7–14Nathan said to David, “You are the man. This is what Yahweh, the God of Israel, says: ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you out of the hand of Saul.
- Gen 4:8Cain said to Abel, his brother, “Let’s go into the field.” While they were in the field, Cain rose up against Abel, his brother, and killed him.
- Exod 32:21Moses said to Aaron, “What did these people do to you, that you have brought a great sin on them?”
- Gal 2:11–14But when Peter came to Antioch, I resisted him to his face, because he stood condemned.
- 2 Sam 11:27When the mourning was past, David sent and took her home to his house, and she became his wife, and bore him a son. But the thing that David had done displeased Yahweh.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
The search that finds everything 'under the sun' to be vapor exposes the emptiness of life without God and drives us to the one who alone gives meaning, the resurrection that makes our labor not in vain.
How Ecclesiastes 4:10 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.