New International Version
Ecclesiastes 4:14
14The youth may have come from prison to the kingship, or he may have been born in poverty within his kingdom.
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.
- 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.
- New Living Translation (NLT)Such a youth could rise from poverty and succeed. He might even become king, though he has been in prison.
Context of Ecclesiastes 4:14
12Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken. 13Better a poor but wise youth than an old but foolish king who no longer knows how to heed a warning. The youth may have come from prison to the kingship, or he may have been born in poverty within his kingdom. 15I saw that all who lived and walked under the sun followed the youth, the king’s successor. 16There was no end to all the people who were before them. But those who came later were not pleased with the successor. This too is meaningless, a chasing after 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 sent for Joseph, and he was quickly brought from the dungeon. When he had shaved and changed his clothes, he came before Pharaoh.
- Job 5:11The lowly he sets on high, and those who mourn are lifted to safety.
- Psalms 113:7He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap;
- 1 Kings 14:26He carried off the treasures of the temple of the Lord and the treasures of the royal palace. He took everything, including all the gold shields 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 the land, and Jehoiakim became his vassal for three years. But then he turned against Nebuchadnezzar and rebelled.
- 2 Kings 25:7They killed 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, our very life breath, was caught in their traps. We thought that under his shadow we would live among the nations.
- Daniel 4:31Even as the words were on his lips, a voice came from heaven, “This is what is decreed for you, King Nebuchadnezzar: Your royal authority has been taken 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
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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