Ecclesiastes 10:17

Blessed art thou, O land, when thy king is the son of nobles, and thy princes eat in due season, for strength, and not for drunkenness!

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
Blessed	אַשְׁרֵ֣יךְ 'ash.Reikh	H835	happiness · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person feminine singular
land	אֶ֔רֶץ 'E.retz	H776	the earth (at large · noun, common feminine singular absolute
king	שֶׁמַּלְכֵּ֖ךְ she.mal.Kekh	H4428	a king · relative particle + noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person feminine singular
son	בֶּן ben-	H1121	a son (as a builder of the family name) · noun, common masculine singular construct
nobles	חוֹרִ֑ים cho.Rim	H2715	properly · noun, common masculine plural absolute
princes	וְשָׂרַ֙יִךְ֙ ve.sa.Ra.yikh	H8269	a head person (of any rank or class) · conjunction + noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person feminine singular
eat	יֹאכֵ֔לוּ yo.Khe.lu	H398	to eat (literally or figuratively) · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
season	בָּעֵ֣ת ba.'Et	H6256	time · preposition with the article + noun, common both genders singular absolute
strength	בִּגְבוּרָ֖ה big.vu.Rah	H1369	force (literally or figuratively) · preposition + noun, common feminine singular absolute
drunkenness	בַשְּׁתִֽי va.she.Ti	H8358	intoxicaion · preposition with the article + noun, common masculine singular absolute

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

Proverbs 31:4-5 It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine; nor for princes strong drink:
Deuteronomy 14:26 And thou shalt bestow that money for whatsoever thy soul lusteth after, for oxen, or for sheep, or for wine, or for strong drink, or for wha…
Proverbs 28:2-3 For the transgression of a land many are the princes thereof: but by a man of understanding and knowledge the state thereof shall be prolong…
Ecclesiastes 10:6-7 Folly is set in great dignity, and the rich sit in low place.
Isaiah 5:11 Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink; that continue until night, till wine inflame them!
Jeremiah 30:21 And their nobles shall be of themselves, and their governor shall proceed from the midst of them; and I will cause him to draw near, and he…

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Ecclesiastes 10:16–end

Solomon here observes, I. How much the happiness of a land depends upon the character of its rulers; it is well or ill with the people according as the princes are good or bad. 1. The people cannot be happy when their princes are childish and voluptuous (Ecc 10:16): Woe unto thee, O land! even the land of Canaan itself, though otherwise the glory of all lands, when thy king is a child, not so much in age (Solomon himself was young when his kingdom was happy in him) as in understanding; when the prince is weak and foolish as a child, fickle and fond of changes, fretful and humoursome, easily imposed upon, and hardly brought to business, it is ill with the people. The body staggers if the head…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Ecclesiastes 10:17

son of nobles--not merely in blood, but in virtue, the true nobility (Sol 7:1; Isa 32:5, Isa 32:8). in due season-- (Ecc 3:1), not until duty has first been attended to. for strength--to refresh the body, not for revelry (included in "drunkenness").

John Gill on Ecclesiastes 10:17

Blessed art thou, O land, when thy king is the son of nobles,.... Or "heroes" (z), called "Hhorim" in the Hebrew, which signifies "white"; either from the white garment they wore, or rather from the purity and ingenuity of their minds and manners; being illustrious persons, not only by birth and education, but in their lives and actions. Now a land is happy when it is governed by a king that is not only descended from a race of heroes and illustrious men, and has a princely and liberal education; but that imitates his ancestors, and treads in their steps, and is famous himself for wisdom, virtue, and real piety, in which true nobility consists; and so the Vulgate Latin version renders it, "w…

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Keil & Delitzsch on Ecclesiastes 10:16-17

"Woe to thee, O land, whose king is a child, and whose princes sit at table in the early morning! Happy art thou, O land, whose king is a noble, and whose princes sit at table at the right time, in manly strength, and not in drunkenness!" Regarding אי. Instead of שׁם ן, the older language would rather use the phrase מלכּו נער אשׁר; and instead of na'ar, we might correctly use, after Pro 30:22, 'ěvěd; but not as Grtz thinks, who from this verse deduces the reference of the book of Herod (the "slave of the Hasmonean house," as the Talm. names him), in the same meaning. For na'ar, it is true, sometimes means - e.g., as Ziba's by-name (Sa2 19:18 [17]) - a servant, but never a slave as such, so…

The Church Fathers

The passage from this book which I gladly quote is one touching the two cities and their kings, the devil and Christ: "Woe to you, O land, when your king is a youth, and when the princes eat in the morning. Blessed is the land whose king is the son of freeborn parents and whose princes eat in due season, in strength and not in confusion." Here, the devil is spoken of as a "youth" because of the foolishness, pride, rashness, unruliness, and other faults usually rampant at that age; and Christ is spoken of as the "son of freeborn parents" because he descended in the flesh from those holy patriarchs who were citizens of the free city. The princes of the devil's city "eat in the morning," that is, before the proper time—in the sense that, being overeager to attain perfect happiness at once in the society of this present world, they are unwilling to await the only true happiness which will come in due time in the world to come. But the princes of the city of Christ await in patience the time of a blessedness which is sure to be theirs. The conclusion, "in strength and not in confusion," means that their hope will not cheat them.
— Augustine of Hippo, City of God 17.20

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Diet Of The Jews, The · Was taken: In the morning, sparingly — Was taken: In the morning, sparingly
Gluttony · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Rulers · CHARACTER AND QUALIFI — CHARACTER AND QUALIFI

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).

Ecclesiastes 10:17

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Ecclesiastes 10:16–end

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Ecclesiastes 10:17

John Gill on Ecclesiastes 10:17

Keil & Delitzsch on Ecclesiastes 10:16-17

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Ecclesiastes 10:17

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Ecclesiastes 10:16–end

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Ecclesiastes 10:17

John Gill on Ecclesiastes 10:17

Keil & Delitzsch on Ecclesiastes 10:16-17

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Ecclesiastes 10:16-17

Rashi on Ecclesiastes 10:17