4:5 calls the man who folds his hands a fool, and 4:6 says one handful is better than two. So which is it: work more, or work less?

The two sayings stand side by side, and each names its own picture. "The fool folds his hands together and ruins himself" (4:5): the one who does nothing ruins himself. "Better is a handful, with quietness, than two handfuls with labor and chasing after wind" (4:6): it doesn't praise empty hands, but a handful with quietness over two handfuls with labor and chasing after wind. And the verse before both says what the Preacher saw behind much labor: "all the labor and achievement that is the envy of a man’s neighbor" (4:4). The chapter doesn't say how much anyone should work, and these notes don't decide it for anyone. Elsewhere the Preacher says, "There is nothing better for a man than that he should eat and drink, and make his soul enjoy good in his labor. This also I saw, that it is from the hand of God" (2:24).