Two are better than one, Because they have a good reward for their labor.
Parallel translations
- WEB Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor.
- KJV Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour.
- BSB Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor.
- NASB Two are better than one because they have a good return for their labor;
- NLT Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed.
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 people working together gain more than one alone, because they share the fruit of their labor. It matters as the Preacher's antidote to the isolated toil just described.
Overview
After the bleak picture of the lonely man, the Preacher commends companionship and partnership. The 'good reward' is not merely material but the shared blessing of mutual help. This wisdom undergirds the biblical pattern of community, fulfilled in the church as the body of Christ, where believers bear one another's burdens (Galatians 6:2).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Prov 27:17Iron sharpens iron; so a man sharpens his friend’s countenance.
- Gen 2:18Yahweh God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make him a helper comparable to him.”
- 1 Cor 12:18–21But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body, just as he desired.
- Mark 6:7He called to himself the twelve, and began to send them out two by two; and he gave them authority over the unclean spirits.
- Num 11:14I am not able to bear all this people alone, because it is too heavy for me.
- John 4:36He who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit to eternal life; that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together.
- Ruth 2:12May Yahweh repay your work, and a full reward be given to you from Yahweh, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge.”
- Acts 13:2As they served the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, “Separate Barnabas and Saul for me, for the work to which I have called them.”
- Hag 1:14Yahweh stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua, the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people; and they came and worked on the house of Yahweh of Armies, their God,
- Exod 4:14–16Yahweh’s anger burned against Moses, and he said, “What about Aaron, your brother, the Levite? I know that he can speak well. Also, behold, he comes out to meet you. When he sees you, he will be glad in his heart.
- 2 Jn 1:8Watch yourselves, that we don’t lose the things which we have accomplished, but that we receive a full reward.
- Acts 15:39–40Then the contention grew so sharp that they separated from each other. Barnabas took Mark with him, and sailed away to Cyprus,
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 4:9 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.