Ecclesiastes 10:16

American Standard Version (1901)

Woe to thee, O land, when thy king is a child, and thy princes eat in the morning!

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

אִֽי־לָ֣ךְ אֶ֔רֶץ שֶׁמַּלְכֵּ֖ךְ נָ֑עַר וְשָׂרַ֖יִךְ בַּבֹּ֥קֶר יֹאכֵֽלוּ׃

Transliteration

ʾî-to you ʾereṣ that malkēk nāʿar wə-śārayik babbōqer yōʾkēlû

Grammar Details

• *ʾî*: interjection - woe
• *lāk*: preposition with 2nd feminine singular suffix - to you
• *ʾereṣ*: feminine singular noun - land
• *še-malkēk*: relative particle + masculine singular noun with 2nd feminine singular suffix - whose king
• *nāʿar*: masculine singular noun - youth/boy
• *wə-śārayik*: conjunction + masculine plural noun with 2nd feminine singular suffix - and your princes
• *ba-bbōqer*: preposition + definite article + masculine singular noun - in the morning
• *yōʾkēlû*: qal imperfect 3rd masculine plural - they eat

Word Meanings

• *ʾî*: woe/alas
• *ʾereṣ*: land/country/earth
• *malkēk*: your king/your ruler
• *nāʿar*: youth/boy/child
• *śārayik*: your princes/your officials/your nobles
• *babbōqer*: in the morning/early
• *yōʾkēlû*: they eat/they feast/they dine

Referenced Verses

• Isa 3:12 : 12 As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, they that lead thee cause thee to err, and destroy the way of thy paths.
• Isa 3:4-5 : 4 And I will give children to be their princes, and babes shall rule over them. 5 And the people shall be oppressed, every one by another, and every one by his neighbor: the child shall behave himself proudly against the old man, and the base against the honorable.
• Isa 5:11-12 : 11 Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink; that tarry late into the night, till wine inflame them! 12 And the harp and the lute, the tabret and the pipe, and wine, are [in] their feasts; but they regard not the work of Jehovah, neither have they considered the operation of his hands.
• 2 Chr 13:7 : 7 And there were gathered unto him worthless men, base fellows, that strengthened themselves against Rehoboam the son of Solomon, when Rehoboam was young and tender-hearted, and could not withstand them.
• 2 Chr 33:1-9 : 1 Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign; and he reigned fifty and five years in Jerusalem. 2 And he did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah, after the abominations of the nations whom Jehovah cast out before the children of Israel. 3 For he built again the high places which Hezekiah his father had broken down; and he reared up altars for the Baalim, and made Asheroth, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served them. 4 And he built altars in the house of Jehovah, whereof Jehovah said, In Jerusalem shall my name be for ever. 5 And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of Jehovah. 6 He also made his children to pass through the fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom; and he practised augury, and used enchantments, and practised sorcery, and dealt with them that had familiar spirits, and with wizards: he wrought much evil in the sight of Jehovah, to provoke him to anger. 7 And he set the graven image of the idol, which he had made, in the house of God, of which God said to David and to Solomon his son, In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, will I put my name for ever: 8 neither will I any more remove the foot of Israel from off the land which I have appointed for your fathers, if only they will observe to do all that I have commanded them, even all the law and the statutes and the ordinances [given] by Moses. 9 And Manasseh seduced Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that they did evil more than did the nations whom Jehovah destroyed before the children of Israel. 10 And Jehovah spake to Manasseh, and to his people; but they gave no heed. 11 Wherefore Jehovah brought upon them the captains of the host of the king of Assyria, who took Manasseh in chains, and bound him with fetters, and carried him to Babylon. 12 And when he was in distress, he besought Jehovah his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers. 13 And he prayed unto him; and he was entreated of him, and heard his supplication, and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that Jehovah he was God. 14 Now after this he built an outer wall to the city of David, on the west side of Gihon, in the valley, even to the entrance at the fish gate; and he compassed Ophel about [with it], and raised it up to a very great height: and he put valiant captains in all the fortified cities of Judah. 15 And he took away the foreign gods, and the idol out of the house of Jehovah, and all the altars that he had built in the mount of the house of Jehovah, and in Jerusalem, and cast them out of the city. 16 And he built up the altar of Jehovah, and offered thereon sacrifices of peace-offerings and of thanksgiving, and commanded Judah to serve Jehovah, the God of Israel. 17 Nevertheless the people sacrificed still in the high places, but only unto Jehovah their God. 18 Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh, and his prayer unto his God, and the words of the seers that spake to him in the name of Jehovah, the God of Israel, behold, they are written among the acts of the kings of Israel. 19 His prayer also, and how [God] was entreated of him, and all his sin and his trespass, and the places wherein he built high places, and set up the Asherim and the graven images, before he humbled himself: behold, they are written in the history of Hozai. 20 So Manasseh slept with his fathers, and they buried him in his own house: and Amon his son reigned in his stead.
• 2 Chr 36:2 : 2 Joahaz was twenty and three years old when he began to reign; and he reigned three months in Jerusalem.
• 2 Chr 36:5 : 5 Jehoiakim was twenty and five years old when he began to reign; and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem: and he did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah his God.
• 2 Chr 36:9 : 9 Jehoiachin was eight years old when he began to reign; and he reigned three months and ten days in Jerusalem: and he did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah.
• 2 Chr 36:11 : 11 Zedekiah was twenty and one years old when he began to reign; and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem:
• Prov 20:1-2 : 1 Wine is a mocker, strong drink a brawler; And whosoever erreth thereby is not wise. 2 The terror of a king is as the roaring of a lion: He that provoketh him to anger sinneth [against] his own life.
• Isa 28:7-8 : 7 And even these reel with wine, and stagger with strong drink; the priest and the prophet reel with strong drink, they are swallowed up of wine, they stagger with strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble in judgment. 8 For all tables are full of vomit [and] filthiness, [so that there is] no place [clean] .
• Jer 21:12 : 12 O house of David, thus saith Jehovah, Execute justice in the morning, and deliver him that is robbed out of the hand of the oppressor, lest my wrath go forth like fire, and burn so that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.
• Hos 7:5-7 : 5 On the day of our king the princes made themselves sick with the heat of wine; he stretched out his hand with scoffers. 6 For they have made ready their heart like an oven, while they lie in wait: their baker sleepeth all the night; in the morning it burneth as a flaming fire. 7 They are all hot as an oven, and devour their judges; all their kings are fallen: there is none among them that calleth unto me.