16-17 Unlucky the land whose king is a young pup,
And whose princes party all night.
Lucky the land whose king is mature,
Where the princes behave themselves
And don’t drink themselves silly.

* * *

18 A shiftless man lives in a tumbledown shack;
A lazy woman ends up with a leaky roof.

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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)

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Footnotes

  1. Ecclesiastes 10:16 Or king is a child