Ecclesiastes 4:14

Ecclesiastes 4:14 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)For out of prison he cometh to reign; whereas also he that is born in his kingdom becometh poor.
• New International Version (NIV)The youth may have come from prison to the kingship, or he may have been born in poverty within his kingdom.
• English Standard Version (ESV)For he went from prison to the throne, though in his own kingdom he had been born poor.
• New King James Version (NKJV)For he comes out of prison to be king, Although he was born poor in his kingdom.

Context of Ecclesiastes 4:14

12And though one may be overpowered, two can resist. Moreover, a cord of three strands is not quickly broken. 13Better is a poor but wise youth than an old but foolish king who no longer knows how to take a warning. For the youth has come from the prison to the kingship, though he was born poor in his own kingdom. 15I saw that all who lived and walked under the sun followed this second one, the youth who succeeded the king. 16There is no limit to all the people who were before them. Yet the successor will not be celebrated by those who come even later. This too is futile and a pursuit of the wind.

Ecclesiastes 4:14 word by word

כִּֽי־מִבֵּ֥ית הָסוּרִ֖ים יָצָ֣א לִמְלֹ֑ךְ כִּ֛י גַּ֥ם בְּמַלְכוּת֖וֹ נוֹלַ֥ד רָֽשׁ׃Read the interlinear

• Forכִּיkîy · forH3588
• has comeיָצָאyâtsâ' · to come out: comeH3318
• from the prisonבַּ֫יִתbayith · house: homeH1004
• from the prisonאָסַר'âsar · to bindH631
• to the kingshipמָלַךְmâlak · to reignH4427
• thoughגַּםgam · alsoH1571
• he was bornיָלַדyâlad · to begetH3205
• poorרוּשׁrûsh · be poorH7326
• in his own kingdomמַלְכוּתmalkûth malkûth malkûyâh · royaltyH4438

Cross-references for Ecclesiastes 4:14

• Genesis 41:14So Pharaoh sent for Joseph, who was quickly brought out of the dungeon. After he had shaved and changed his clothes, he went in before Pharaoh.
• Job 5:11He sets the lowly on high, so that mourners are lifted to safety.
• Psalms 113:7He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the dump
• 1 Kings 14:26He seized the treasures of the house of the LORD and of the royal palace. He took everything, including all the gold shields that Solomon had made.
• 2 Kings 23:31Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem three months. His mother’s name was Hamutal daughter of Jeremiah; she was from Libnah.
• 2 Kings 24:1During Jehoiakim’s reign, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon invaded. So Jehoiakim became his vassal for three years, until he turned and rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar.
• 2 Kings 25:7And they slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes. Then they put out his eyes, bound him with bronze shackles, and took him to Babylon.
• Lamentations 4:20The LORD’s anointed, the breath of our life, was captured in their pits. We had said of him, “Under his shadow we will live among the nations.”
• Daniel 4:31While the words were still in the king’s mouth, a voice came from heaven: “It is decreed to you, King Nebuchadnezzar, that the kingdom has departed from you.

Commentaries on Ecclesiastes 4:14

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 14For out of prison he cometh to reign - "Then Abraham left the country of the idolaters, where he had been imprisoned, and came and reigned over the land of Canaan; and Nimrod became poor in this world." This is the fact to which the ancient rabbins supposed Solomon to allude.Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 13-16Verses 13-16 These verses set forth the vanity of earthly prosperity even on a throne. Opinion as to their application is chiefly divided between considering them a parable or fiction like that of the childless man in Ecclesiastes 4:8: or as setting forth first the vicissitudes of royal life in two proverbial sayings Ecclesiastes 4:13-14, and then Ecclesiastes 4:15-16, the vicissitudes or procession of the whole human race, one generation giving place to…Read the comment
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 13-16Verses 13-16 People are never long easy and satisfied; they are fond of changes. This is no new thing. Princes see themselves slighted by those they have studied to oblige; this is vanity and vexation of spirit. But the willing servants of the Lord Jesus, our King, rejoice in him alone, and they will love Him more and more to all eternity.Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 13-14Better is a...wise youth: Wisdom is valuable because it helps in real-life situations.Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 1414. out of prison--Solomon uses this phrase of a supposed case; for example, Joseph raised from a dungeon to be lord of Egypt. His words are at the same time so framed by the Holy Ghost that they answer virtually to Jeroboam, who fled to escape a "prison" and death from Solomon, to Shishak of Egypt (1Ki 11:40). This unconscious presaging of his own doom, and that of Rehoboam, constitutes the irony. David's elevation from poverty and exile, under Saul…Read the comment

Topics related to Ecclesiastes 4:14

• Rulers

In the dictionaries

• Prison
• Threefold
• Poor
• Prison; Prisoner
• Synagogue, the Great

Commentaries on Ecclesiastes 4

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
• Tyndale Open Study Notes
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
• Rashi on Tanakh
• Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
• John Wesley’s Notes
• Darby Translation Notes
• Geneva Bible Translation Notes
• Kingcomments
• Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
• Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
• Original Douay–Rheims Annotations
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
• EGW Writings