the Week of Proper 9 / Ordinary 14
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Green's Literal Translation
Ecclesiastes 4:14
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For he came from prison to be king, even though he was born poor in his kingdom.
For out of prison he came forth to be king; yes, even in his kingdom he was born poor.
For out of prison he cometh to reign; whereas also he that is born in his kingdom becometh poor.
For he went from prison to the throne, though in his own kingdom he had been born poor.
for he has come out of prison to become king, even though he was born poor in his kingdom.
A boy became king. He had been born poor in the kingdom and had even gone to prison before becoming king.
for the poor youth has [used his wisdom and] come out of prison to become king, even though he was born poor in his kingdom.
For out of prison he came forth to be king; yes, even in his kingdom he was born poor.
For out of the prison he commeth forth to reigne: when as he that is borne in his kingdome, is made poore.
For he has come out of prison to become king, even though he was born poor in his kingdom.
For the youth has come from prison to be king, even though he was born poor in his kingdom.
Even if you were not born into the royal family and have been a prisoner and poor, you can still be king.
True, he rose from prison to be king; yet, while ruling, he became poor.
For out of the prison-house he came forth to reign, although he was born poor in his kingdom.
Maybe the young ruler was born a poor man in the kingdom. And maybe he came from prison to rule the country.
Out of prison he has come to reign, because also in his own kingdom he had been born miserable.
For he came out of the prison house to reign, since he was born poor in his kingdom.
Some one commeth out of preson, & is made a kynge: & another which is borne in the kyngdome, commeth vnto pouerte.
For out of prison he came forth to be king; yea, even in his kingdom he was born poor.
Because out of a prison the young man comes to be king, though by birth he was only a poor man in the kingdom.
For out of prison he came forth to be king; although in his kingdom he was born poor.
For out of prison hee commeth to raigne, whereas also he that is borne in his kingdome, becommeth poore.
Some one commeth out of prison, and is made a kyng: and another which is borne in the kyngdome, commeth vnto pouertie.
For he shall come forth out of the house of the prisoners to reign, because he also that was in his kingdom has become poor.
For out of prison he came forth to be king; yea, even in his kingdom he was born poor.
For sum tyme a man goith out bothe fro prysoun and chaynes to a rewme; and anothir borun in to a rewme is wastid bi nedynesse.
For out of prison he came forth to be king; yes, even in his kingdom he was born poor.
For out of prison he cometh to reign; whereas also [he that is] born in his kingdom becometh poor.
For he came out of prison to become king, even though he had been born poor in what would become his kingdom.
For he comes out of prison to be king, Although he was born poor in his kingdom.
Such a youth could rise from poverty and succeed. He might even become king, though he has been in prison.
A man can come out of prison to become king, even if he was born poor in his nation.
One can indeed come out of prison to reign, even though born poor in the kingdom.
For, out of prison, came he forth to reign, yea, even in his own kingdom, was he born poor.
Because out of prison and chains sometimes a man cometh forth to a kingdom: and another born king is consumed with poverty.
even though he had gone from prison to the throne or in his own kingdom had been born poor.
For from a house of prisoners he hath come out to reign, for even in his own kingdom he hath been poor.
For he has come out of prison to become king, even though he was born poor in his kingdom.
Contextual Overview
Bible Verse Review
from Treasury of Scripure 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. Genesis 41:14, Genesis 41:33-44, Job 5:11, Psalms 113:7, Psalms 113:8
also: 1 Kings 14:26, 1 Kings 14:27, 2 Kings 23:31-34, 2 Kings 24:1, 2 Kings 24:2, 2 Kings 24:6, 2 Kings 24:12, 2 Kings 25:7, 2 Kings 25:27-30, Lamentations 4:20, Daniel 4:31
Reciprocal: 1 Samuel 2:8 - set them Luke 1:52 - put
Cross-References
And He did not look to Cain and to his offering. And Cain glowed greatly with anger, and his face fell.
And Jehovah said to Cain, Why have you angrily glowed, and why has your face fallen?
And now you are cursed more than the ground which opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand.
When you till the ground, it will not again give its strength to you. You shall be a vagabond and a fugitive on the earth.
And Cain said to Jehovah, My punishment is greater than I can bear.
Behold! You have driven me out from the face of the earth today. And I shall be hidden from Your face. And I shall be a vagabond and a fugitive on the earth. And it will be that anyone who finds me shall kill me.
And Jehovah said to him, If anyone kills Cain, he shall be avenged sevenfold. And Jehovah set a mark on Cain, so that anyone who found him should not kill him.
And Cain went out from the presence of Jehovah. And he lived in the land of Nod, east of Eden.
And Adah bore Jabal; he was the father of those living in tents, and with cattle.
For Cain is avenged sevenfold, and Lamech seventy seven.
Gill's Notes on the Bible
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 of Israel: though Gussetius e interprets this of the old and foolish king, who comes out of the house or family, הסודים, of degenerate persons, as he translates the word, with a degenerate genius to rule; the allusion being to a degenerate vine; which sense agrees with Ecclesiastes 4:13, and with what follows;
whereas also [he that is] born in his kingdom becometh poor; who is born of royal parents, born to a kingdom; is by birth heir to one, has it by inheritance, and has long possessed it; and yet, by his own misconduct, or by the rebellion of his subjects, he is dethroned and banished; or by a foreign power is taken and carried captive, and reduced to the utmost poverty, as Zedekiah, Nebuchadnezzar, and others: or if born poor, so Gussetius; with a poor genius, not capable of ruling, and so loses his kingdom, and comes to poverty. Or it may be rendered, "although in his kingdom he is born poor" f; that is, though the poor and wise child is born poor in the kingdom of the old and foolish king; yet, out of this low estate, in which he is by birth, he comes and enjoys the kingdom in his room to such a strange turn of affairs are the highest honours subject: or, "for in his kingdom he is born poor" g; even the person that is born heir to a crown is born a poor man; he comes as naked out of his mother's womb as the poorest man does; the conditions of both are equal as to birth; and therefore it need not seem strange that one out of prison should come to a kingdom. But the first sense seems best.
e Ebr. Comment. p. 553. f כי גם "quamvis etiam", Gejerus. g "Nam etiam", Tigurine version, Cocceius; "quia etiam", Pagninus, Montanus, Schmidt, Rambachius, so Aben Ezra.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible
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 successor. On the whole, the first appears to have the better claim.
Ecclesiastes 4:13
Child - Rather, young man.
Ecclesiastes 4:14
Rather: For out of the house of bondage he goes forth to be a king; although he was born poor in his kingdom, i. e., in the country over which he became king.
Ecclesiastes 4:15
I considered ... - literally, I saw “all the population of the young man’s kingdom.”
The second child - This second youth is generally understood to be identical with the one mentioned in Ecclesiastes 4:13.
Ecclesiastes 4:16
There is - Rather: There was.
That have been before them - Rather, before whom he was, i. e., at the head of whom the young king was. Compare Micah 2:13.
They also that ... him - i. e., The next generation shall forget this chosen king.
Clarke's Notes on the Bible
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.
