Ecclesiastes 4:11

Good News Translation

If it is cold, two can sleep together and stay warm, but how can you keep warm by yourself

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Also, if two lie down together, they can keep warm; but how can one person alone keep warm?

Hebrew Names Version
Again, if two lie together, then they have warmth; but how can one keep warm alone?

King James Version
Again, if two lie together, then they have heat: but how can one be warm alone?

English Standard Version
Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone?

New American Standard Bible
Furthermore, if two lie down together they keep warm, but how can one be warm alone?

New Century Version
If two lie down together, they will be warm, but a person alone will not be warm.

Amplified Bible
Again, if two lie down together, then they keep warm; but how can one be warm alone?

World English Bible
Again, if two lie together, then they have warmth; but how can one keep warm alone?

Geneva Bible (1587)
Also if two sleepe together, then shall they haue heate: but to one how should there be heate?

Legacy Standard Bible
Furthermore, if two lie down together they keep warm, but how can one be warm alone?

Berean Standard Bible
Again, if two lie down together, they will keep warm; but how can one keep warm alone?

Contemporary English Version
If you sleep alone, you won't have anyone to keep you warm on a cold night.

Complete Jewish Bible
Again, if two people sleep together, they keep each other warm; but how can one person be warm by himself?

Darby Translation
Again, if two lie together, then they have warmth; but how can one alone be warm?

Easy-to-Read Version
If two people sleep together, they will be warm. But a person sleeping alone will not be warm.

George Lamsa Translation
Again, if two sleep together, they will be warm; but how can one be warm alone?

Lexham English Bible
Also if two lie together, they can keep each other warm. But how can one person be warm?

Literal Translation
Also if two lie together , then they have warmth; but for one, how is he warm?

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Agayne, when two slepe together, they are warme: but how can a body be warme alone?

American Standard Version
Again, if two lie together, then they have warmth; but how can one be warm alone?

Bible in Basic English
So again, if two are sleeping together they are warm, but how may one be warm by himself?

JPS Old Testament (1917)
Again, if two lie together, then they have warmth; but how can one be warm alone?

King James Version (1611)
Againe, if two lye together, then they haue heate; but howe can one be warme alone?

Bishop's Bible (1568)
Agayne, when two sleepe together they are warme: but howe can a body be warme alone?

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
Also if two should lie together, they also get heat: but how shall one be warmed alone?

English Revised Version
Again, if two lie together, then they have warmth: but how can one be warm alone?

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And if tweyne slepen, thei schulen be nurschid togidere; hou schal oon be maad hoot?

Update Bible Version
Again, if two lie together, then they have warmth; but how can one be warm [alone]?

Webster's Bible Translation
Again, if two lie together, then they have heat: but how can one be warm [alone]?

New English Translation
Furthermore, if two lie down together, they can keep each other warm, but how can one person keep warm by himself?

New King James Version
Again, if two lie down together, they will keep warm; But how can one be warm alone?

New Living Translation
Likewise, two people lying close together can keep each other warm. But how can one be warm alone?

New Life Bible
And if two lie down together, they keep warm. But how can one be warm alone?

New Revised Standard
Again, if two lie together, they keep warm; but how can one keep warm alone?

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Moreover, if two lie together, then have they warmth, - but how can, one, have warmth?

Douay-Rheims Bible
And if two lie together, they shall warm one another: how shall one alone be warmed?

Revised Standard Version
Again, if two lie together, they are warm; but how can one be warm alone?

Young's Literal Translation
Also, if two lie down, then they have heat, but how hath one heat?

THE MESSAGE
Two in a bed warm each other. Alone, you shiver all night.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
Furthermore, if two lie down together they keep warm, but how can one be warm alone?

Contextual Overview

⁷ I have noticed something else in life that is useless. ⁸ Here is someone who lives alone. He has no son, no brother, yet he is always working, never satisfied with the wealth he has. For whom is he working so hard and denying himself any pleasure? This is useless, too—and a miserable way to live. ⁹ Two are better off than one, because together they can work more effectively. ¹⁰ If one of them falls down, the other can help him up. But if someone is alone and falls, it's just too bad, because there is no one to help him. ¹¹ If it is cold, two can sleep together and stay warm, but how can you keep warm by yourself ¹² Two people can resist an attack that would defeat one person alone. A rope made of three cords is hard to break.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

1 Kings 1:1, 1 Kings 1:2

Cross-References

Genesis 3:14
Then the Lord God said to the snake, "You will be punished for this; you alone of all the animals must bear this curse: From now on you will crawl on your belly, and you will have to eat dust as long as you live.

Genesis 4:14
You are driving me off the land and away from your presence. I will be a homeless wanderer on the earth, and anyone who finds me will kill me."

Genesis 4:15
But the Lord answered, "No. If anyone kills you, seven lives will be taken in revenge." So the Lord put a mark on Cain to warn anyone who met him not to kill him.

Genesis 4:16
And Cain went away from the Lord 's presence and lived in a land called "Wandering," which is east of Eden.

Genesis 4:19
Lamech had two wives, Adah and Zillah.

Genesis 4:20
Adah gave birth to Jabal, who was the ancestor of those who raise livestock and live in tents.

Genesis 4:21
His brother was Jubal, the ancestor of all musicians who play the harp and the flute.

Genesis 4:26
Seth had a son whom he named Enosh. It was then that people began using the Lord 's holy name in worship.

Job 16:18
O Earth, don't hide the wrongs done to me! Don't let my call for justice be silenced!

Isaiah 26:21
The Lord is coming from his heavenly dwelling place to punish the people of the earth for their sins. The murders that were secretly committed on the earth will be revealed, and the ground will no longer hide those who have been killed.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Again, if two lie together, then they have heat,.... The Targum adds, in the winter; when it is a cold season, they warm one another by lying together. The Targum interprets it of a man and his wife; it is true of others; see 1 Kings 1:1;

but how can one be warm [alone]? not soon, nor easily, in time of cold weather. This is true in a spiritual sense of persons in a Christian communion and religious society; when they are grown cold in their love, lukewarm in their affections, and backward and indifferent to spiritual exercises, yet by Christian conversation may be stirred up to love and good works: so two cold flints struck against each other, fire comes out of them; and even two cold Christians, when they come to talk with each other about spiritual things, and feel one another's spirits, they presently glow in their affections to each other, and to divine things; and especially if Christ joins them with his presence, as he did the two disciples going to Emmaus, then their hearts burn within them.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The spectacle of a prosperous man whose condition is rendered vain by his brotherless, childless isolation.

Ecclesiastes 4:8

A second - Any one associated or connected with him.

Ecclesiastes 4:9-12

Compare a saying from the Talmud: “A man without companions is like the left hand without the right.”