Ecclesiastes 5:8

Bible in Basic English (1941)

It is good generally for a country where the land is worked to have a king.

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

וְיִתְר֥וֹן אֶ֖רֶץ בַּכֹּ֣ל *היא **ה֑וּא מֶ֥לֶךְ לְשָׂדֶ֖ה נֶעֱבָֽד׃

Transliteration

And yiṯrôn ʾereṣ in bakkōl hûʾ, meleḵ to śāḏeh neʿĕḇāḏ

Grammar Details

• *yiṯrôn*: noun, masculine singular construct - advantage/profit of
• *ʾereṣ*: noun, feminine singular - land/earth/ground
• *bakkōl*: preposition + definite article + noun, masculine singular - in the all/everything
• *hûʾ*: 3rd person masculine singular pronoun - he/it
• *meleḵ*: noun, masculine singular - king
• *śāḏeh*: noun, masculine singular - field
• *neʿĕḇāḏ*: niphal participle, masculine singular - being served/cultivated/worked

Word Meanings

• *yiṯrôn*: profit/advantage/excess/excellency
• *ʾereṣ*: land/earth/ground/territory/country
• *neʿĕḇāḏ*: being served/worked/cultivated/tilled
• *hûʾ*: he/it (text shows alternate reading between masculine and feminine forms)

Referenced Verses

• Ps 12:5 : 5 Because of the crushing of the poor and the weeping of those in need, now will I come to his help, says the Lord; I will give him the salvation which he is desiring.
• Eccl 3:16 : 16 And again, I saw under the sun, in the place of the judges, that evil was there; and in the place of righteousness, that evil was there.
• Eccl 4:1 : 1 And again I saw all the cruel things which are done under the sun; there was the weeping of those who have evil done to them, and they had no comforter: and from the hands of the evil-doers there went out power, but they had no comforter.
• Ps 82:1 : 1 <A Psalm. Of Asaph.> God is in the meeting-place of God; he is judging among the gods.
• Ps 83:18 : 18 So that men may see that you only, whose name is Yahweh, are Most High over all the earth.
• Ps 95:3 : 3 For the Lord is a great God, and a great King over all gods.
• Ps 140:11-12 : 11 Let not a man of evil tongue be safe on earth: let destruction overtake the violent man with blow on blow. 12 I am certain that the Lord will take care of the cause of the poor, and of the rights of those who are troubled.
• Prov 8:17 : 17 Those who have given me their love are loved by me, and those who make search for me with care will get me.
• 1 Kgs 21:19-20 : 19 Say to him, The Lord says, Have you put a man to death and taken his heritage? Then say to him, The Lord says, In the place where dogs have been drinking the blood of Naboth, there will your blood become the drink of dogs. 20 And Ahab said to Elijah, Have you come face to face with me, O my hater? And he said, I have come to you because you have given yourself up to do evil in the eyes of the Lord.
• 1 Chr 21:15-16 : 15 And God sent an angel to Jerusalem for its destruction: and when he was about to do so, the Lord saw, and had regret for the evil, and said to the angel of destruction, It is enough; do no more. Now the angel of the Lord was by the grain-floor of Ornan the Jebusite. 16 And David, lifting up his eyes, saw the angel of the Lord there between earth and heaven, with an uncovered sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem. Then David and the responsible men, clothed in haircloth, went down on their faces.
• Job 20:19-29 : 19 Because he has been cruel to the poor, turning away from them in their trouble; because he has taken a house by force which he did not put up; 20 There is no peace for him in his wealth, and no salvation for him in those things in which he took delight. 21 He had never enough for his desire; for this cause his well-being will quickly come to an end. 22 Even when his wealth is great, he is full of care, for the hand of everyone who is in trouble is turned against him. 23 God gives him his desire, and sends the heat of his wrath on him, making it come down on him like rain. 24 He may go in flight from the iron spear, but the arrow from the bow of brass will go through him; 25 He is pulling it out, and it comes out of his back; and its shining point comes out of his side; he is overcome by fears. 26 All his wealth is stored up for the dark: a fire not made by man sends destruction on him, and on everything in his tent. 27 The heavens make clear his sin, and the earth gives witness against him. 28 The produce of his house is taken away into another country, like things given into the hands of others in the day of wrath. 29 This is the reward of the evil man, and the heritage given to him by God.
• Job 27:8-9 : 8 For what is the hope of the sinner when he is cut off, when God takes back his soul? 9 Will his cry come to the ears of God when he is in trouble? 10 Will he take delight in the Ruler of all, and make his prayer to God at all times? 11 I will give you teaching about the hand of God; I will not keep secret from you what is in the mind of the Ruler of all. 12 Truly, you have all seen it yourselves; why then have you become completely foolish? 13 This is the punishment of the evil-doer from God, and the heritage given to the cruel by the Ruler of all. 14 If his children are increased, it is for the sword; and his offspring have not enough bread. 15 When those of his house who are still living come to their end by disease, they are not put into the earth, and their widows are not weeping for them. 16 Though he may get silver together like dust, and make ready great stores of clothing; 17 He may get them ready, but the upright will put them on, and he who is free from sin will take the silver for a heritage. 18 His house has no more strength than a spider's thread, or a watchman's tent. 19 He goes to rest full of wealth, but does so for the last time: on opening his eyes, he sees it there no longer. 20 Fears overtake him like rushing waters; in the night the storm-wind takes him away. 21 The east wind takes him up and he is gone; he is forced violently out of his place. 22 God sends his arrows against him without mercy; he goes in flight before his hand. 23 Men make signs of joy because of him, driving him from his place with sounds of hissing.
• Ps 10:17-18 : 17 Lord, you have given ear to the prayer of the poor: you will make strong their hearts, you will give them a hearing: 18 To give decision for the child without a father and for the broken-hearted, so that the man of the earth may no longer be feared.
• Ps 55:9 : 9 Send destruction on them, O Lord, make a division of tongues among them: for I have seen fighting and violent acts in the town.
• Ps 58:10-11 : 10 The upright man will be glad when he sees their punishment; his feet will be washed in the blood of the evil-doer. 11 So that men will say, Truly there is a reward for righteousness; truly there is a God who is judge on the earth.
• Isa 3:15 : 15 By what right are you crushing my people, and putting a bitter yoke on the necks of the poor? This is the word of the Lord, the Lord of armies.
• Isa 5:7 : 7 For the vine-garden of the Lord of armies is the people of Israel, and the men of Judah are the plant of his delight: and he was looking for upright judging, and there was blood; for righteousness, and there was a cry for help.
• Isa 10:5-7 : 5 Ho! Assyrian, the rod of my wrath, the instrument of my punishment! 6 I will send him against a nation of wrongdoers, and against the people of my wrath I will give him orders, to take their wealth in war, crushing them down like the dust in the streets. 7 But this is not what is in his mind, and this is not his design; but his purpose is destruction, and the cutting off of more and more nations.
• Isa 10:12 : 12 For this cause it will be that, when the purpose of the Lord against Mount Zion and Jerusalem is complete, I will send punishment on the pride of the heart of the king of Assyria, and on the glory of his uplifted eyes.
• Isa 37:36 : 36 And the angel of the Lord went out and put to death in the army of the Assyrians a hundred and eighty-five thousand men: and when the people got up early in the morning, there was nothing to be seen but dead bodies.
• Isa 46:10-11 : 10 Making clear from the first what is to come, and from past times the things which have not so far come about; saying, My purpose is fixed, and I will do all my pleasure; 11 Sending for a bird of strong flight from the east, the man of my purpose from a far country; I have said it, and I will give effect to it; the thing designed by me will certainly be done.
• Isa 57:15 : 15 For this is the word of him who is high and lifted up, whose resting-place is eternal, whose name is Holy: my resting-place is in the high and holy place, and with him who is crushed and poor in spirit, to give life to the spirit of the poor, and to make strong the heart of the crushed.
• Isa 59:13-16 : 13 We have gone against the Lord, and been false to him, turning away from our God, our words have been uncontrolled, and in our hearts are thoughts of deceit. 14 And the right is turned back, and righteousness is far away: for good faith is not to be seen in the public places, and upright behaviour may not come into the town. 15 Yes, faith is gone; and he whose heart is turned from evil comes into the power of the cruel: and the Lord saw it, and he was angry that there was no one to take up their cause. 16 And he saw that there was no man, and was surprised that there was no one to take up their cause: so his arm gave salvation, and he made righteousness his support.
• Jer 22:17-19 : 17 But your eyes and your heart are fixed only on profit for yourself, on causing the death of him who has done no wrong, and on violent and cruel acts. 18 So this is what the Lord has said about Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, king of Judah: They will make no weeping for him, saying, Ah my brother! or, Ah sister! they will make no weeping for him, saying, Ah lord! or, Ah his glory! 19 They will do to him what they do to the dead body of an ass; his body will be pulled out and placed on the earth outside the doors of Jerusalem.
• Ezek 22:6-9 : 6 See, the rulers of Israel, every one in his family, have been causing death in you. 7 In you they have had no respect for father and mother; in you they have been cruel to the man from a strange land; in you they have done wrong to the child without a father and to the widow. 8 You have made little of my holy things, and have made my Sabbaths unclean. 9 In you there are men who say evil of others, causing death; in you they have taken the flesh with the blood for food; in your streets they have put evil designs into effect. 10 In you they have let the shame of their fathers be seen; in you they have done wrong to a woman at the time when she was unclean. 11 And in you one man has done what was disgusting with his neighbour's wife; and another has made his daughter-in-law unclean; and another has done wrong to his sister, his father's daughter. 12 In you they have taken rewards as the price of blood; you have taken interest and great profits, and you have taken away your neighbours' goods by force, and have not kept me in mind, says the Lord. 13 See, then, I have made my hands come together in wrath against your taking of goods by force and against the blood which has been flowing in you. 14 Will your heart be high or your hands strong in the days when I take you in hand? I the Lord have said it and will do it.
• Amos 5:12 : 12 For I have seen how your evil-doing is increased and how strong are your sins, you troublers of the upright, who take rewards and do wrong to the cause of the poor in the public place.
• Amos 6:2-6 : 2 Go on to Calneh and see; and from there go to Hamath the great; then go down to Gath of the Philistines: are you better than these kingdoms? or is your land wider than theirs? 3 You who put far away the evil day, causing the rule of the violent to come near; 4 Who are resting on beds of ivory, stretched out on soft seats, feasting on lambs from the flock and young oxen from the cattle-house; 5 Making foolish songs to the sound of corded instruments, and designing for themselves instruments of music, like David; 6 Drinking wine in basins, rubbing themselves with the best oils; but they have no grief for the destruction of Joseph.
• Amos 6:12 : 12 Is it possible for horses to go running on the rock? may the sea be ploughed with oxen? for the right to be turned by you into poison, and the fruit of righteousness into a bitter plant?
• Amos 8:4-7 : 4 Give ear to this, you who are crushing the poor, and whose purpose is to put an end to those who are in need in the land, 5 Saying, When will the new moon be gone, so that we may do trade in grain? and the Sabbath, so that we may put out in the market the produce of our fields? making the measure small and the price great, and trading falsely with scales of deceit; 6 Getting the poor for silver, and him who is in need for the price of two shoes, and taking a price for the waste parts of the grain. 7 The Lord has taken an oath by the pride of Jacob, Truly I will ever keep in mind all their works.
• Mic 2:1-3 : 1 A curse on the designers of evil, working on their beds! in the morning light they do it, because it is in their power. 2 They have a desire for fields and take them by force; and for houses and take them away: they are cruel to a man and his family, even to a man and his heritage. 3 For this cause the Lord has said, See, against this family I am purposing an evil from which you will not be able to take your necks away, and you will be weighted down by it; for it is an evil time.
• Mic 2:9 : 9 The women of my people you have been driving away from their dearly loved children; from their young ones you are taking my glory for ever.
• Mic 3:1-4 : 1 And I said, Give ear, now, you heads of Jacob and rulers of the people of Israel: is it not for you to have knowledge of what is right? 2 You who are haters of good and lovers of evil, pulling off their skin from them and their flesh from their bones; 3 Like meat they take the flesh of my people for their food, skinning them and crushing their bones, yes, cutting them up as if for the pot, like flesh inside the cooking-pot. 4 Then they will be crying to the Lord for help, but he will not give them an answer: yes, he will keep his face veiled from them at that time, because their acts have been evil.
• Mic 3:9-9 : 9 Then give ear to this, you heads of the children of Jacob, you rulers of the children of Israel, hating what is right, twisting what is straight. 10 They are building up Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with evil-doing. 11 Its heads take rewards for judging, and the priests take payment for teaching, and the prophets get silver for reading the future: but still, supporting themselves on the Lord, they say, Is not the Lord among us? no evil will overtake us. 12 For this reason, Zion will be ploughed like a field because of you, and Jerusalem will become a mass of broken walls, and the mountain of the house like a high place in the woods.
• Mic 6:10-13 : 10 Am I to let the stores of the evil-doer go out of my memory, and the short measure, which is cursed? 11 Is it possible for me to let wrong scales and the bag of false weights go without punishment? 12 For its men of wealth are cruel, and its people have said what is not true, and their tongue is false in their mouth. 13 So I have made a start with your punishment; I have made you waste because of your sins.
• Hab 1:2-3 : 2 How long, O Lord, will your ears be shut to my voice? I make an outcry to you about violent behaviour, but you do not send salvation. 3 Why do you make me see evil-doing, and why are my eyes fixed on wrong? for wasting and violent acts are before me: and there is fighting and bitter argument.
• Hab 1:12-13 : 12 Are you not eternal, O Lord my God, my Holy One? for you there is no death. O Lord, he has been ordered by you for our punishment; and by you, O Rock, he has been marked out to put us right. 13 Before your holy eyes sin may not be seen, and you are unable to put up with wrong; why, then, are your eyes on the false? why do you say nothing when the evil-doer puts an end to one who is more upright than himself?
• Zech 7:9-9 : 9 This is what the Lord of armies has said: Let your judging be upright and done in good faith, let every man have mercy and pity for his brother: 10 Do not be hard on the widow, or the child without a father, on the man from a strange country, or on the poor; let there be no evil thought in your heart against your brother. 11 But they would not give attention, turning their backs and stopping their ears from hearing; 12 And they made their hearts like the hardest stone, so that they might not give ear to the law and the words which the Lord of armies had said by the earlier prophets: and there came great wrath from the Lord of armies. 13 And it came about that as they would not give ear to his voice, so I would not give ear to their voice, says the Lord of armies:
• Zech 8:6 : 6 This is what the Lord of armies has said: If this is a wonder to the rest of this people, is it a wonder to me? says the Lord of armies.
• Mal 3:5 : 5 And I will come near to you for judging; I will quickly be a witness against the wonder-workers, against those who have been untrue in married life, against those who take false oaths; against those who keep back from the servant his payment, and who are hard on the widow and the child without a father, who do not give his rights to the man from a strange country, and have no fear of me, says the Lord of armies.
• Matt 13:41-42 : 41 The Son of man will send out his angels, and they will take out of his kingdom everything which is a cause of error, and all those who do wrong, 42 And will put them into the fire; there will be weeping and cries of sorrow.
• Luke 1:32 : 32 He will be great, and will be named the Son of the Most High: and the Lord God will give him the kingdom of David, his father:
• Luke 1:35 : 35 And the angel in answer said to her, The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will come to rest on you, and so that which will come to birth will be named holy, Son of God.
• Luke 1:76 : 76 And you, child, will be named the prophet of the Most High: you will go before the face of the Lord, to make ready his ways;
• Acts 4:27-28 : 27 For, truly, in this town, against your holy servant, Jesus, who was marked out by you as Christ, Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, came together, 28 To do that which had been fixed before by your hand and your purpose.
• Acts 12:7-9 : 7 And a great light was seen shining in the room, and an angel of the Lord came to Peter and, touching him on his side so that he came out of his sleep, said, Get up quickly. And his chains came off his hands. 8 Then the angel said, Put on your shoes and get ready to go. And he did so. And he said, Put your coat round you and come with me. 9 And he went out after him; and he was not certain if what was done by the angel was a fact, for it seemed to him that he was seeing a vision. 10 And when they had gone past the first and second watchmen they came to the iron door into the town, which came open by itself: and they went out and down one street; and then the angel went away.
• Acts 12:23 : 23 And straight away the angel of the Lord sent a disease on him, because he did not give the glory to God: and his flesh was wasted away by worms, and so he came to his end.
• Rom 11:33 : 33 O how deep is the wealth of the wisdom and knowledge of God! no one is able to make discovery of his decisions, and his ways may not be searched out.
• Jas 2:13 : 13 For the man who has had no mercy will be judged without mercy, but mercy takes pride in overcoming judging.
• Jas 5:2-7 : 2 Your wealth is unclean and insects have made holes in your clothing. 3 Your gold and your silver are wasted and their waste will be a witness against you, burning into your flesh. You have put by your store in the last days. 4 See, the money which you falsely kept back from the workers cutting the grass in your field, is crying out against you; and the cries of those who took in your grain have come to the ears of the Lord of armies. 5 You have been living delicately on earth and have taken your pleasure; you have made your hearts fat for a day of destruction. 6 You have given your decision against the upright man and have put him to death. He puts up no fight against you. 7 Go on waiting calmly, my brothers, till the coming of the Lord, like the farmer waiting for the good fruit of the earth till the early and late rains have come.
• 1 Pet 4:12 : 12 Dear brothers, do not be surprised, as if it was something strange, if your faith is tested as by fire:
• 1 John 3:13 : 13 Do not be surprised, my brothers, if the world has no love for you.
• Rev 17:6-7 : 6 And I saw the woman overcome as with the wine of the blood of the saints, and the blood of those put to death because of Jesus. And when I saw her, I was overcome with a great wonder. 7 And the angel said to me, Why were you surprised? I will make clear to you the secret of the woman, and of the beast on which she is seated, which has the seven heads and the ten horns.