Ecclesiastes 4:13
in Ecclesiastes 4Better is a poor but wise youth than an old but foolish king who no longer knows how to take a warning.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Better is a poor and wise youth than an old and foolish king, who knoweth not how to receive admonition any more.
KJV
Better is a poor and a wise child than an old and foolish king, who will no more be admonished.
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This verse in Ecclesiastes 4
Commentary
8 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
These verses set forth the vanity of earthly prosperity even on a throne. Opinion as to their application is chiefly divided between considering them a parable or fiction like that of the childless man in Ecc 4:8: or as setting forth first the vicissitudes of royal life in two proverbial sayings Ecc 4:13-14, and then Ecc 4:15-16, the vicissitudes or procession of the whole human race, one generation giving place to another, Which in its turn will be forgotten by its successor. On the whole, the first appears to have the better claim. Ecc 4:13 Child - Rather, young man.
This site's exposition
Better is a poor but wise youth
on Ecclesiastes 4:13-16
The last case sets a poor but wise youth against an old but foolish king. The youth comes from the prison to the kingship, a reversal Scripture records in Joseph's rise. Yet the successor will not be celebrated by those who come even later, so the wisest rise ends futile.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
"Better is a poor but wise youth, than an old and foolish king who no longer knows how to take care of himself; because from the prison-house he emerged to reign, while even in his reign he was born poor. I saw all the living that wander beneath the sun throng to the succeeding youth that steps into his place. There is no end to the entire nation, to all that was before them; similarly the ones that come later will not rejoice in him. For this too is futility and a vexation of the spirit."
The Medieval Church1 voice
A commentator
BonaventureCommentary on Ecclesiastes, Chapter 4 · Written in the 13th century.
proposed
"Better is a child," etc. He treated above of the vanity of malice and avarice: here he treats of the vanity of imprudence: and because the vanity of imprudence is culpable and detestable, therefore he inveighs against it in two ways: first, on account of …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
To-day, Hosanna --tomorrow, Crucify. It cannot but be a great grief to princes to see themselves thus slighted by those they have studied to oblige and have depended upon; there is no faith in man, no stedfastness. This is vanity and vexation of spirit.
Better is a poor and a wise child than an old and foolish king,....
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
The "wise" child, though a supposed case of Solomon, answers, in the event foreseen by the Holy Ghost, to Jeroboam, then a poor but valiant youth, once a "servant" of Solomon, and (1Ki 11:26-40) appointed by God through the prophet Ahijah to be heir of the kingdom of the ten tribes about to be rent from Rehoboam.
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
Better is a poor and a wise child - The Targum applies this to Abraham. “Abraham was a poor child of only three years of age; but he had the spirit of prophecy, and he refused to worship the idols which the old foolish king - Nimrod - had set up; therefore Nimrod cast him into a furnace of fire. But the Lord worked a miracle and delivered him. Yet here was no knowledge in Nimrod, and he would not be admonished.” The Targum proceeds:
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
Better a poor but wise child. This is the good inclination, and why is it called “child”? Because it comes to a person only at the age of thirteen years.
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
And if an individual attacks. If thieves came to attack him, if they are two, they will stand up to them, and certainly, if they are three, “and the threefold cord is not quickly severed.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 2 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
12 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ט֛וֹב | tov | [is] good | H2896 → | 538 times |
| יֶ֥לֶד | yeled | a youth | H3206 → | |
| מִסְכֵּ֖ן | misken | poor | H4542 → | 4 times |
| וְחָכָ֑ם | vechakham | and wise | H2450 → | 138 times |
| מִמֶּ֤לֶךְ | mimelekh | more than a king | H4428 → | 2525 times |
| זָקֵן֙ | zaken | old | H2205 → | |
| וּכְסִ֔יל | ukhesil | and a fool | H3684 → | 70 times |
| אֲשֶׁ֛ר | ʾasher | who | H834 → | 5497 times |
| לֹא־ | lo'- | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| יָדַ֥ע | yada' | he knows | H3045 → | 945 times |
| לְהִזָּהֵ֖ר | lehizaher | to be warned | H2094 → | |
| עֽוֹד׃ | od | still | H5750 → | 490 times |
ט֛וֹב[is] good
tovH2896 →538 times
יֶ֥לֶדa youth
yeledH3206 →
מִסְכֵּ֖ןpoor
miskenH4542 →4 times
וְחָכָ֑םand wise
vechakhamH2450 →138 times
מִמֶּ֤לֶךְmore than a king
mimelekhH4428 →2525 times
זָקֵן֙old
zakenH2205 →
וּכְסִ֔ילand a fool
ukhesilH3684 →70 times
אֲשֶׁ֛רwho
ʾasherH834 →5497 times
לֹא־not
lo'-H3808 →5168 times
יָדַ֥עhe knows
yada'H3045 →945 times
לְהִזָּהֵ֖רto be warned
lehizaherH2094 →
עֽוֹד׃still
odH5750 →490 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Proverbs 19:1Better a poor man who walks with integrity than a fool whose lips are perverse.
it leads to
- Proverbs 28:6
Better a poor man who walks with integrity than a rich man whose ways are perverse.
- Proverbs 16:8
Better a little with righteousness than great gain with injustice.
- Matthew 16:26
What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?
- Proverbs 28:6
Through
1 Kings 22:8The king of Israel answered, “There is still one man who can ask the LORD, but I hate him because he never prophesies anything good for me, but only bad. He is Micaiah son…
it leads to
- John 17:14
I have given them Your word and the world has hated them; for they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.
- Amos 5:10
There are those who hate the one who reproves in the gate and despise him who speaks with integrity.
- John 3:19–21
And this is the verdict: The Light has come into the world, but men loved the darkness rather than the Light because their deeds were evil.
- John 7:7
The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me, because I testify that its works are evil.
- Micah 2:7
Should it be said, O house of Jacob, “Is the Spirit of the LORD impatient? Are these the things He does?” Do not My words bring good to him who walks uprightly?
- John 17:14
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Ecclesiastes
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Bonaventure, Commentary on Ecclesiastes, Chapter 4; Charles Bridges, An Exposition of the Book of Ecclesiastes; Franz Delitzsch, Commentary on the Song of Songs and Ecclesiastes; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Ecclesiastes; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.