Add parallel Print Page Options

16 A country is in for trouble
    when its ruler is childish,
and its leaders
    party all day long.
17 But a nation will prosper
    when its ruler is mature,
and its leaders
    don't party too much.
18 Some people are too lazy
to fix a leaky roof—
    then the house collapses.

Read full chapter

16 Woe to the land whose king was a servant[a](A)
    and whose princes feast in the morning.
17 Blessed is the land whose king is of noble birth
    and whose princes eat at a proper time—
    for strength and not for drunkenness.(B)

18 Through laziness, the rafters sag;
    because of idle hands, the house leaks.(C)

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. Ecclesiastes 10:16 Or king is a child