Ecclesiastes 4 · Verse 14

Ecclesiastes 4:14

For out of prison he cometh to reign; whereas also he that is born in his kingdom becometh poor.
Ecclesiastes 4:14, King James Version

Ecclesiastes 4:14 in other translations

BSBFor the youth has come from the prison to the kingship, though he was born poor in his own kingdom.
WEBFor out of prison he came out to be king; yes, even in his kingdom he was born poor.
ASVFor out of prison he came forth to be king; yea, even in his kingdom he was born poor.
YLTFor from a house of prisoners he hath come out to reign, for even in his own kingdom he hath been poor.
DARBYFor out of the prison-house he came forth to reign, although he was born poor in his kingdom.
BBEBecause out of a prison the young man comes to be king, though by birth he was only a poor man in the kingdom.
WebsterFor out of prison he cometh to reign; whereas also he that is born in his kingdom becometh poor.

What does Ecclesiastes 4:14 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
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 (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 (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).

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 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.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Ecclesiastes 4:13-16

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 full comment on Ecclesiastes 4:13-16 →

Ecclesiastes 4:14 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

כִּֽי\־ki-forH3588
מִבֵּ֥יתmi.Beitfrom [the] house ofH1004
הָסוּרִ֖יםha.su.Rimthe prisonersH631
יָצָ֣אya.Tza'he came outH3318
לִמְלֹ֑ךְlim.Lokhto become kingH4427
כִּ֛יkiforH3588
גַּ֥םgamalsoH1571
בְּמַלְכוּת֖וֹbe.mal.khu.Toin own kingdom hisH4438
נוֹלַ֥דno.Ladhe had been bornH3205
רָֽשׁ\׃Rasha poor [person]H7326

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Ecclesiastes 4:14

  • Psalms 113:7-8

    He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth the needy out of the dunghill; That he may set him with princes, even with the princes of his people.

  • 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 came in unto Pharaoh.

  • 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 heathen.

  • Genesis 41:33-44

    Now therefore let Pharaoh look out a man discreet and wise, and set him over the land of Egypt. Let Pharaoh do this, and let him appoint officers over the land, and take up the fifth part of the land of Egypt in the seven plenteous years. And let them gather all the food of those good years that come, and lay up corn under the hand of Pharaoh, and let them keep food in the cities. And that food shall be for store to the land against the seven years of famine, which shall be in the land of Egypt; that the land perish not through the famine. …

  • Daniel 4:31

    While the word was in the king’s mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, saying, O king Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is spoken; The kingdom is departed from thee.

  • 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 to Babylon.

  • 2 Kings 24:6

    So Jehoiakim slept with his fathers: and Jehoiachin his son reigned in his stead.

  • 2 Kings 25:27-30

    And it came to pass in the seven and thirtieth year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the seven and twentieth day of the month, that Evil–merodach king of Babylon in the year that he began to reign did lift up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah out of prison; And he spake kindly to him, and set his throne above the throne of the kings that were with him in Babylon; And changed his prison garments: and he did eat bread continually before him all the days of his life. And his allowance was a continual allowance given him of the king, a daily rate for every day, all the days of his life.

  • 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: and the king of Babylon took him in the eighth year of his reign.

  • 1 Kings 14:26-27

    And he took away the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king’s house; he even took away all: and he took away all the shields of gold which Solomon had made. And king Rehoboam made in their stead brasen shields, and committed them unto the hands of the chief of the guard, which kept the door of the king’s house.

  • 2 Kings 24:1-2

    In his days Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up, and Jehoiakim became his servant three years: then he turned and rebelled against him. And the Lord sent against him bands of the Chaldees, and bands of the Syrians, and bands of the Moabites, and bands of the children of Ammon, and sent them against Judah to destroy it, according to the word of the Lord, which he spake by his servants the prophets.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
For out.This is probably an allusion to some fact with which we are unacquainted. History furnishes many instances of mean persons raised to sovereign authority, and of kings being reduced to the meanest offices, and to a morsel. Agrippa mounted the throne of Israel after having been long in prison; and similar instances are not wanting in modern times.
Ge 41:14,33-44; Job 5:11; Ps 113:7,8
also.
1Ki 14:26,27; 2Ki 23:31-34; 24:1,2,6,12; 25:7,27-30; La 4:20
Da 4:31

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • Ecclesiastes 4:13

    Better is a poor and a wise child than an old and foolish king, who will no more be admonished.

  • Ecclesiastes 4:14

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

  • Ecclesiastes 4:15

    I considered all the living which walk under the sun, with the second child that shall stand up in his stead.

Read all of Ecclesiastes 4

Ecclesiastes 4:14 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		Porque de la cárcel salió para reinar; mientras el nacido en su reino se hizo pobre.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		Car il est sorti de la maison des prisonniers pour régner, lors même qu’il est né pauvre dans son royaume.
German
Elberfelder 1871		Denn aus dem Hause der Gefangenen ging er hervor, um König zu sein, obwohl er im Königreiche jenes arm geboren war.
Latin
Clementine Vulgate		Quod de carcere catenisque interdum quis egrediatur ad regnum; et alius, natus in regno, inopia consumatur.