I have seen servants upon horses, and princes walking as servants upon the earth.
Parallel translations
- WEB I have seen servants on horses, and princes walking like servants on the earth.
- BSB I have seen slaves on horseback, while princes go on foot like slaves.
- NKJV I have seen servants on horses, While princes walk on the ground like servants.
- NASB I have seen slaves riding on horses and princes walking like slaves on the land.
- NLT I have even seen servants riding horseback like princes—and princes walking like servants!
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
The Preacher has seen servants riding on horses while princes walk on foot like servants. Social roles are turned upside down under poor leadership.
Overview
Continuing the theme of inverted order, Qoheleth observes status reversals that signal misgovernment. The picture is one of confusion where honor and station are misplaced. While such reversals here mark disorder, God himself sometimes overturns human hierarchies for his just and gracious purposes, a theme fulfilled in the gospel's reversal of the proud and humble (1 Samuel 2:7-8).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 3
- Prov 19:10Delight is not seemly for a fool; much less for a servant to have rule over princes.
- Esth 6:8Let the royal apparel be brought which the king useth to wear, and the horse that the king rideth upon, and the crown royal which is set upon his head:
- Prov 30:22For a servant when he reigneth; and a fool when he is filled with meat;
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Christ at the center
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.
How Ecclesiastes 10:7 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.