Woe to thee, O land, when thy king is a child, and thy princes eat in the morning!
Parallel translations
- WEB Woe to you, land, when your king is a child, and your princes eat in the morning!
- BSB Woe to you, O land whose king is a youth, and whose princes feast in the morning.
- NKJV Woe to you, O land, when your king is a child, And your princes feast in the morning!
- NASB Woe to you, land whose king is a boy, and whose princes feast in the morning.
- NLT What sorrow for the land ruled by a servant, the land whose leaders feast in the morning.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Woe to the land whose king is immature and whose princes feast in the morning. Self-indulgent, unfit leadership brings ruin to a people.
Overview
Qoheleth pronounces woe on a nation governed by childish rulers given to early revelry instead of duty. Such leadership signals disorder and coming trouble. It contrasts with the next verse and underscores Scripture's concern for righteous, disciplined leadership, ultimately fulfilled in the perfect King, Christ (Isaiah 3:4-5; Proverbs 31:4-5).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Isa 3:12As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, they which lead thee cause thee to err, and destroy the way of thy paths.
- Isa 5:11–12Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink; that continue until night, till wine inflame them!
- Isa 3:4–5And I will give children to be their princes, and babes shall rule over them.
- Prov 20:1–2Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.
- Jer 21:12O house of David, thus saith the LORD; Execute judgment in the morning, and deliver him that is spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor, lest my fury go out like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.
- 2 Chr 13:7And there are gathered unto him vain men, the children of Belial, and have strengthened themselves against Rehoboam the son of Solomon, when Rehoboam was young and tenderhearted, and could not withstand them.
- 2 Chr 36:9Jehoiachin was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months and ten days in Jerusalem: and he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD.
- 2 Chr 36:2Jehoahaz was twenty and three years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem.
- Isa 28:7–8But they also have erred through wine, and through strong drink are out of the way; the priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink, they are swallowed up of wine, they are out of the way through strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble in judgment.
- 2 Chr 36:5Jehoiakim was twenty and five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem: and he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD his God.
- Hos 7:5–7In the day of our king the princes have made him sick with bottles of wine; he stretched out his hand with scorners.
- 2 Chr 36:11Zedekiah was one and twenty years old when he began to reign, and reigned eleven years in Jerusalem.
- 2 Chr 33:1–20Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty and five years in Jerusalem:
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The search that finds everything 'under the sun' to be vapor exposes the emptiness of life without God and drives us to the one who alone gives meaning, the resurrection that makes our labor not in vain.
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Original language
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