Ecclesiastes 4:13-14 NIV

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Ecclesiastes 4:13-16

Solomon was himself a king, and therefore may be allowed to speak more freely than another concerning the vanity of kingly state and dignity, which he shows here to be an uncertain thing; he had before said so (Prov. 27:24; The crown doth not endure to every generation), and his son found it so. Nothing is more slippery than the highest post of honour without wisdom and the people's love. I. A king is not happy unless he have wisdom, Eccl. 4:13, 14. He that is truly wise, prudent, and pious,... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Ecclesiastes 4:13

Better is a poor and a wise child than an old and foolish king ,.... The wise man proceeds to show the vanity of worldly power and dignity, in the highest instance of it, which is kingly; and, in order to illustrate and exemplify this, he supposes, on the one hand, a person possessed of royal honour; who has long enjoyed it, is settled in his kingdom, and advanced in years; and who otherwise, for his gravity and dignity, would be venerable; but that he is foolish, a person of a mean genius... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Ecclesiastes 4:14

For out of prison he cometh to reign ,.... That is, this is sometimes the case of a poor and wise child; he rises out of a low, mean, abject, obscure state and condition, to the highest dignity; from a prison house, or a place where servants are, to sit among princes, and even to have the supreme authority: so Joseph, to whose case Solomon is thought to have respect, and which is mentioned in the Midrash; who was but a young man, and poor and friendless, but wise; and was even laid in... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Ecclesiastes 4:13

Better is a poor and a wise child - The Targum applies this to Abraham. "Abraham was a poor child of only three years of age; but he had the spirit of prophecy, and he refused to worship the idols which the old foolish king - Nimrod - had set up; therefore Nimrod cast him into a furnace of fire. But the Lord worked a miracle and delivered him. Yet here was no knowledge in Nimrod, and he would not be admonished." The Targum proceeds: read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Ecclesiastes 4:14

For 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 more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Ecclesiastes 4:1-16

Section 5. Koheleth proceeds to give further illustrations of man ' s inability to be the architect of his own happiness . There are many things which interrupt or destroy it. read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Ecclesiastes 4:13

Better is a poor and wise child than an old and foolish king. The word translated "child" ( yeled ), is used sometimes of one beyond childhood (see Genesis 30:26 ; Genesis 37:30 ; 1 Kings 12:8 ), so here it may be rendered "youth." Misken , πενὴς , pauper (Vulgate), "poor," is found also at Ecclesiastes 9:15 , Ecclesiastes 9:16 , and nowhere else; but the root, with an analogous signification, occurs at Deuteronomy 8:9 and Isaiah 40:20 . The clause says that a... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Ecclesiastes 4:13-16

High place offers no assurance of security. A king's popularity is never permanent; he is supplanted by some clever young aspirant for a time, whose influence in turn soon evaporates, and the subject-people reap no benefit from the change. read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Ecclesiastes 4:14

For out of prison he cometh to reign; whereas also he that is born in his kingdom becometh poor. The ambiguity of the pronouns has induced different interpretations of this verse. It is plain that the paragraph is intended to corroborate the statement of the previous verse, contrasting the fate of the poor, clever youth with that of the old, foolish king. The Authorized Version makes the pronoun in the first clause refer to the youth, and those in the second to the king, with the... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Ecclesiastes 4:13-16

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 another, Which in its turn will be forgotten by its... read more

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Ecclesiastes 4:13-16

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Ecclesiastes 4:13

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Ecclesiastes 4:14

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Ecclesiastes 4:13

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Ecclesiastes 4:14

The Pulpit Commentary - Ecclesiastes 4:1-16

The Pulpit Commentary - Ecclesiastes 4:13

The Pulpit Commentary - Ecclesiastes 4:13-16

The Pulpit Commentary - Ecclesiastes 4:14

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Ecclesiastes 4:13-16

Group of Brands