EasyEnglish Bible 2018
Ecclesiastes 4:14
14A young man who is wise may even become king himself one day. He may have been in prison. He may have been born in a poor family in that kingdom. But he may later rule there as king.
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
12If you are alone, one person might attack you and hurt you. But two people together can help each other to win the fight. If you use three strings to make a rope, it is difficult for anyone to break it. 13A young man may be very poor. But if he is wise, he is better than a king who is foolish. When the king is old, he may not listen to his friends' advice. A young man who is wise may even become king himself one day. He may have been in prison. He may have been born in a poor family in that kingdom. But he may later rule there as king. 15I thought about all the people who live on the earth. I realized that one of them would also become king one day. He would rule instead of the other young man who became king. 16Large crowds of people give him honour as their king. But in future years, nobody will praise him. I realized that this has no purpose. It is like somebody who tries to catch the wind.
Read all of Ecclesiastes 4Ecclesiastes 4:14 word by word
כִּֽי־מִבֵּ֥ית הָסוּרִ֖ים יָצָ֣א לִמְלֹ֑ךְ כִּ֛י גַּ֥ם בְּמַלְכוּת֖וֹ נוֹלַ֥ד רָֽשׁ׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Ecclesiastes 4:14
- Genesis 41:14So Pharaoh called Joseph to come to him. They quickly brought Joseph from the prison. Joseph washed himself and he cut his beard from his face. He put on clean clothes. Then he went and he stood in front of Pharaoh.
- Job 5:11He gives honour to humble people. When people are suffering, he puts them in a safe place.
- Psalms 113:7He lifts poor people out of the dirt. And he lifts up weak people from the ashes.
- 1 Kings 14:26He took away the valuable things that were in the Lord's temple and in the king's palace. He took everything for himself. That included the gold shields that King Solomon had made.
- 2 Kings 23:31Jehoahaz was 23 years old when he became king. He ruled as king in Jerusalem for three months. His mother's name was Hamutal. She was the daughter of Jeremiah, who came from Libnah.
- 2 Kings 24:1While Jehoiakim was king, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon attacked Judah. Jehoiakim was under Nebuchadnezzar's authority for three years. But then Jehoiakim turned against Nebuchadnezzar.
- 2 Kings 25:7They killed all Zedekiah's sons as their punishment, while Zedekiah watched. Then they cut out Zedekiah's eyes to make him blind. They tied him with chains and they took him to Babylon.
- Lamentations 4:20The Lord had chosen a man to be our king. We thought that he would save us. ‘Under his shadow we will live among the other countries,’ we had always said. But the enemy caught him.
- Daniel 4:31While King Nebuchadnezzar was still boasting about his power, he heard a voice from heaven. It said, ‘I am speaking to you, King Nebuchadnezzar. I have taken away your authority to rule as king!
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
In the dictionaries
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
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