Ecclesiastes Chapter 4 verse 15 Holy Bible

ASV Ecclesiastes 4:15

I saw all the living that walk under the sun, that they were with the youth, the second, that stood up in his stead.
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BBE Ecclesiastes 4:15

I saw all the living under the sun round the young man who was to be ruler in place of the king.
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DARBY Ecclesiastes 4:15

I saw all the living that walk under the sun, with the child, the second, that should stand up in his stead.
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KJV Ecclesiastes 4:15

I considered all the living which walk under the sun, with the second child that shall stand up in his stead.
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WBT Ecclesiastes 4:15


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WEB Ecclesiastes 4:15

I saw all the living who walk under the sun, that they were with the youth, the other, who succeeded him.
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YLT Ecclesiastes 4:15

I have seen all the living, who are walking under the sun, with the second youth who doth stand in his place;
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Pulpit Commentary

Pulpit CommentaryVerse 15. - I considered all the living which walk under the sun; or, I have seen all the population. The expression is hyperbolical, as Eastern monarchs speak of their dominions as if they comprised the whole world (see Daniel 4:1; Daniel 6:25). With the second child that shall stand up in his stead. "With" (עִם) means "in company with," "on the side of;" and the clause should be rendered, as in the Revised Version, That they were with the youth, the second, that stood up in his stead. The youth who is called the second is the one spoken of in the previous verses, who by general acclamation is raised to the highest place in the realm, while the old monarch is dethroned or depreciated. He is named second, as being the successor of the other, either in popular favor or on the throne. It is the old story of worshipping the rising sun. The verse may still be applied to Joseph, who was made second to Pharaoh, and was virtually supreme in Egypt, standing in the king's place (Genesis 41:40-44).

Ellicott's Commentary

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(15) I considered.--Heb., I saw. Most modern interpreters regard the "second child" as identical with the "young man" of Ecclesiastes 4:13, and understand the passage, "I saw him at the head of all his people; yet his great popularity was but temporary, and the next generation took no pleasure in him." It seems to me that by no stretch of rhetoric can "all the living which walk under the sun" be taken for the subjects of the sovereign in question. I am inclined to think that the Preacher reverts to the general topic, and considered all the living with the "second youth," i.e., the second generation which shall succeed them. He saw the old generation hardened in its ways, and incapable of being admonished, and then displaced by a new generation, with which the next will feel equal dissatisfaction.