Ecclesiastes 10:16

Authorized King James Version (1611)

¶ 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 which 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 neighbour: the child shall behave himself proudly against the ancient, and the base against the honourable.
• Isa 5:11-12 : 11 Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning, [that] they may follow strong drink; that continue until night, [till] wine inflame them! 12 And the harp, and the viol, the tabret, and pipe, and wine, are in their feasts: but they regard not the work of the LORD, neither consider the operation of his hands.
• 2 Chr 13:7 : 7 And there are gathered unto him vain men, the children of Belial, and have strengthened themselves against Rehoboam the son of Solomon, when Rehoboam was young and tenderhearted, 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 But did [that which was] evil in the sight of the LORD, like unto the abominations of the heathen, whom the LORD had 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 Baalim, and made groves, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served them. 4 Also he built altars in the house of the LORD, whereof the LORD had 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 the LORD. 6 And he caused his children to pass through the fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom: also he observed times, and used enchantments, and used witchcraft, and dealt with a familiar spirit, and with wizards: he wrought much evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger. 7 And he set a carved image, the idol which he had made, in the house of God, of which God had said to David and to Solomon his son, In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen before all the tribes of Israel, will I put my name for ever: 8 Neither will I any more remove the foot of Israel from out of the land which I have appointed for your fathers; so that they will take heed to do all that I have commanded them, according to the whole law and the statutes and the ordinances by the hand of Moses. 9 So Manasseh made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to err, [and] to do worse than the heathen, whom the LORD had destroyed before the children of Israel. 10 And the LORD spake to Manasseh, and to his people: but they would not hearken. 11 ¶ Wherefore the LORD brought upon them the captains of the host of the king of Assyria, which took Manasseh among the thorns, and bound him with fetters, and carried him to Babylon. 12 And when he was in affliction, he besought the LORD his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers, 13 And prayed unto him: and he was intreated of him, and heard his supplication, and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the LORD he [was] God. 14 Now after this he built a wall without the city of David, on the west side of Gihon, in the valley, even to the entering in at the fish gate, and compassed about Ophel, and raised it up a very great height, and put captains of war in all the fenced cities of Judah. 15 And he took away the strange gods, and the idol out of the house of the LORD, and all the altars that he had built in the mount of the house of the LORD, and in Jerusalem, and cast [them] out of the city. 16 And he repaired the altar of the LORD, and sacrificed thereon peace offerings and thank offerings, and commanded Judah to serve the LORD God of Israel. 17 Nevertheless the people did sacrifice still in the high places, [yet] unto the LORD their God only. 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 the LORD God of Israel, behold, they [are written] in the book of the kings of Israel. 19 His prayer also, and [how God] was intreated of him, and all his sin, and his trespass, and the places wherein he built high places, and set up groves and graven images, before he was humbled: behold, they [are] written among the sayings of the seers. 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 Jehoahaz [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 the LORD 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 the LORD.
• 2 Chr 36:11 : 11 ¶ Zedekiah [was] one and twenty years old when he began to reign, and reigned eleven years in Jerusalem.
• Prov 20:1-2 : 1 ¶ Wine [is] a mocker, strong drink [is] raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise. 2 ¶ The fear of a king [is] as the roaring of a lion: [whoso] provoketh him to anger sinneth [against] his own soul.
• Isa 28:7-8 : 7 But they also have erred through wine, and through strong drink are out of the way; the priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink, they are swallowed up of wine, they are out of the way through 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 the LORD; Execute judgment in the morning, and deliver [him that is] spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor, lest my fury go out like fire, and burn that none can quench [it], because of the evil of your doings.
• Hos 7:5-7 : 5 In the day of our king the princes have made [him] sick with bottles of wine; he stretched out his hand with scorners. 6 For they have made ready their heart like an oven, whiles 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 have devoured their judges; all their kings are fallen: [there is] none among them that calleth unto me.