Ecclesiastes 10:16
Translations
King James Version (KJV)
Woe to you, O land, when your king is a child, and your princes eat in the morning!
American King James Version (AKJV)
Woe to you, O land, when your king is a child, and your princes eat in the morning!
American Standard Version (ASV)
Woe to thee, O land, when thy king is a child, and thy princes eat in the morning!
Basic English Translation (BBE)
Unhappy is the land whose king is a boy, and whose rulers are feasting in the morning.
Webster's Revision
Woe to thee, O land, when thy king is a child, and thy princes eat in the morning!
World English Bible
Woe to you, land, when your king is a child, and your princes eat in the morning!
English Revised Version (ERV)
Woe to thee, O land, when thy king is a child, and thy princes eat in the morning!
Definitions for Ecclesiastes 10:16
Clarke's Ecclesiastes 10:16 Bible Commentary
Wo to thee, O land, when thy king is a child - Minorities are, in general, very prejudicial to a state. Regents either disagree, and foment civil wars; or oppress the people. Various discordant interests are raised up in a state during a minority; and the young king, having been under the tutelage of interested men, acts partially and injuriously to the interests of the people when he comes to the throne; and this produces popular discontent, and a troubled reign.
Thy princes eat in the morning! - They do nothing in order; turn night into day, and day into night; sleep when they should wake, and wake when they should sleep; attending more to chamberings and banquetings, than to the concerns of the state.
Barnes's Ecclesiastes 10:16 Bible Commentary
Foolish rulers, by their weakness, self-indulgence and sloth, bring decay upon the state: nobleness and temperance insure prosperity: yet the subject must not rebel in word or thought against his king.
Ecclesiastes 10:16
A child - Rather, young. The word is applied to Rehoboam 2 Chronicles 13:7 at the time of his accession to the throne, when he was 41 years old.
Eat in the morning - A sign of intemperance (compare Isaiah 5:11).
Wesley's Ecclesiastes 10:16 Bible Commentary
10:16 A child - Either in age, or childish qualities. Eat - Give up themselves to eating and drinking. Morning - The fittest time for God's service, for the dispatch of weighty affairs, and for sitting in judgment.