Where the word of a king is, there is power: and who may say unto him, What doest thou?
Parallel translations
- WEB for the king’s word is supreme. Who can say to him, “What are you doing?”
- BSB For the king’s word is supreme, and who can say to him, “What are you doing?”
- NKJV Where the word of a king is, there is power; And who may say to him, “What are you doing?”
- NASB Since the word of the king is authoritative, who will say to him, “What are you doing?”
- NLT His command is backed by great power. No one can resist or question it.
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
A king's word carries supreme authority, and few can openly question what he does. This sober observation about earthly power calls for wise, careful conduct.
Overview
The verse describes the unchallengeable authority a monarch held in the ancient world. It is descriptive, naming the reality the wise must navigate, not an endorsement of tyranny. Ultimately it points beyond every earthly king to God, whose word truly is supreme and unanswerable, yet who is perfectly just (Job 9:12; Daniel 4:35).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Job 9:12Behold, he taketh away, who can hinder him? who will say unto him, What doest thou?
- Rom 13:1–4Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.
- Dan 4:35And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou?
- Prov 20:2The fear of a king is as the roaring of a lion: whoso provoketh him to anger sinneth against his own soul.
- Job 34:18–19Is it fit to say to a king, Thou art wicked? and to princes, Ye are ungodly?
- Rom 9:20Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?
- Prov 19:12The king’s wrath is as the roaring of a lion; but his favour is as dew upon the grass.
- Prov 30:31A greyhound; an he goat also; and a king, against whom there is no rising up.
- Dan 3:15Now if ye be ready that at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of musick, ye fall down and worship the image which I have made; well: but if ye worship not, ye shall be cast the same hour into the midst of a burning fiery furnace; and who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands?
- Job 33:12–13Behold, in this thou art not just: I will answer thee, that God is greater than man.
- Luke 12:4–5And I say unto you my friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do.
- 1 Kgs 2:46So the king commanded Benaiah the son of Jehoiada; which went out, and fell upon him, that he died. And the kingdom was established in the hand of Solomon.
- 1 Kgs 2:25And king Solomon sent by the hand of Benaiah the son of Jehoiada; and he fell upon him that he died.
- 1 Kgs 2:29–34And it was told king Solomon that Joab was fled unto the tabernacle of the LORD; and, behold, he is by the altar. Then Solomon sent Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, saying, Go, fall upon him.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 8:4 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.