Ecclesiastes 4:14

For out of prison he cometh to reign; whereas also he that is born in his kingdom becometh poor.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
prison	הָסוּרִ֖ים ha.su.Rim	H631	to yoke or hitch · definite article + verb, qal passive participle, masculine plural absolute
cometh	יָצָ֣א ya.Tza'	H3318	to go (causatively · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
reign	לִמְלֹ֑ךְ lim.Lokh	H4427	to reign · preposition + verb, qal infinitive construct
born	נוֹלַ֥ד no.Lad	H3205	to bear young · verb, niphal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
kingdom	בְּמַלְכוּת֖וֹ be.mal.khu.To	H4438	a rule · preposition + noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
poor	רָֽשׁ Rash	H7326	to be destitute · verb, qal active participle, 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

Genesis 41:14 Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and they brought him hastily out of the dungeon: and he shaved himself, and changed his raiment, and ca…
Psalms 113:7-8 He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth the needy out of the dunghill;
Job 5:11 To set up on high those that be low; that those which mourn may be exalted to safety.
Lamentations 4:20 The breath of our nostrils, the anointed of the LORD, was taken in their pits, of whom we said, Under his shadow we shall live among the hea…
Genesis 41:33-44 Now therefore let Pharaoh look out a man discreet and wise, and set him over the land of Egypt.
2 Kings 24:6 So Jehoiakim slept with his fathers: and Jehoiachin his son reigned in his stead.
2 Kings 24:12 And Jehoiachin the king of Judah went out to the king of Babylon, he, and his mother, and his servants, and his princes, and his officers: a…
2 Kings 25:7 And they slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and put out the eyes of Zedekiah, and bound him with fetters of brass, and carried him t…

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

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Ecclesiastes 4:13–end

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 (Pro 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, Ecc 4:13, Ecc 4:14. He that is truly wise, prudent, and pious, though he be poor in the world, and very young, and upon both accounts despised and little taken notice of, is better, more truly valuable and worthy of respect, is likely to do better for himself and…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Ecclesiastes 4:14

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 (Kg1 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 (which may have been before Solomon's mind), had so far their counterpart in that of Jeroboam. whereas . . . becometh poor--rather, "though he (the youth) was born poor in his kingdom" (in the land where afterwards he was to reign).

John Gill on 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 prison, though innocent and guiltless, from whence he was fetched, and became the second man in the kingdom of Egypt; so David, the youngest of Jesse's sons, was taken from the sheepfold, and set upon the throne…

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The Church Fathers

For in Ecclesiastes too it is written of the righteous man who successfully struggled and conquered, having freed himself from the bonds of the flesh: "From the prison he will go forth to a kingdom."
— Origen of Alexandria, DIALOGUE WITH HERACLIDES

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

Ecclesiastes 4:14

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Ecclesiastes 4:13–end

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Ecclesiastes 4:14

John Gill on Ecclesiastes 4:14

The Church Fathers

Ecclesiastes 4:14

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Ecclesiastes 4:13–end

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Ecclesiastes 4:14

John Gill on Ecclesiastes 4:14

The Church Fathers

Keil & Delitzsch on Ecclesiastes 4:14

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Ecclesiastes 4:13-14

Rashi on Ecclesiastes 4:14