Again, if two lie down together, they will keep warm; but how can one keep warm alone?
Parallel translations
- WEB Again, if two lie together, then they have warmth; but how can one keep warm alone?
- KJV Again, if two lie together, then they have heat: but how can one be warm alone?
- NKJV Again, if two lie down together, they will keep warm; But how can one be warm alone?
- NASB Furthermore, if two lie down together they keep warm, but how can one be warm alone?
- NLT Likewise, two people lying close together can keep each other warm. But how can one be warm alone?
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
Two who lie together keep warm, but one alone cannot. It matters as a homely image of how companionship sustains us against life's hardships.
Overview
Using the simple example of warmth on a cold night, the Preacher continues praising shared life. The point is the practical comfort and provision that come through relationship. While the imagery is general, it affirms the goodness of human bonds woven into creation, bonds meant to reflect the warmth of fellowship God designed and restores in His people.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 1
- 1 Kgs 1:1–4Now King David was old and well along in years, and though they covered him with blankets, he could not keep warm.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
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 4:11 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.