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Ecclesiastes 10:16-18
Easy-to-Read Version
Ecclesiastes 10:16-18
Easy-to-Read Version
The Value of Work
16 It is very bad for a country if the king is like a child. And it is very bad for a country if its rulers use all their time eating. 17 But it is very good for a country if the king comes from a good family.[a] And it is very good for a country if the rulers control their eating and drinking. They eat and drink to become strong, not to become drunk.
18 If someone is too lazy to work,
their house will begin to leak, and the roof will fall in.
Footnotes
- Ecclesiastes 10:17 comes from a good family Literally, “is a son of freedmen.” This is a person who was never a slave and whose parents were not slaves.
Ecclesiastes 10:16-18
New International Version
Ecclesiastes 10:16-18
New International Version
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)
Footnotes
- Ecclesiastes 10:16 Or king is a child
Easy-to-Read Version (ERV)
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International
New International Version (NIV) 
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NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.