Ecclesiastes 4:14
Because out of prison and chains sometimes a man cometh forth to a kingdom: and another born king is consumed with poverty.
Douay-Rheims 1899
In The King James Version
For out of prison he cometh to reign; whereas also he that is born in his kingdom becometh poor.
In Context
Cross References
Genesis 41:14And we heard what afterwards the event of the thing proved to be so. For I was restored to my office: and he was hanged upon a gibbet.
Genesis 41:41Thou shalt be over my house, and at the commandment of thy mouth all the people shall obey: only in the kingly throne will I be above thee.
1 Samuel 2:8He raiseth up the needy from the dust, and lifteth up the poor from the dunghill: that he may sit with princes, and hold the throne of glory. For the poles of the earth are the Lord's, and upon them he hath set the world.
2 Kings 23:31Joachaz was three and twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem: the name of his mother was Amital, the daughter of Jeremias of Lobna.
2 Kings 24:6And Joachin his son reigned in his stead.
2 Kings 25:7And he slew the sons of Sedecias before his face, and he put out his eyes, and bound him with chains, and brought him to Babylon.
Matthew Henry on Ecclesiastes 4:14-16
The Advantages of Society. 13 Better is a poor and a wise child than an old and foolish king, who will no more be admonished. 14 For out of prison he cometh to reign; whereas also he that is born in his kingdom becometh poor. 15 I considered all the living which walk under the sun, with the second child that shall stand up in his stead. 16 There is no end of all the people, even of all that have been before them: they also that come after shall not rejoice in him. Surely this also is vanity and vexation of spirit.… Read the whole commentary →