Ecclesiastes 10:7

Easy-to-Read Version

I have seen servants riding on horses, while rulers were walking beside them like slaves.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
I have seen slaves on horses,but princes walking on the ground like slaves.

Hebrew Names Version
I have seen servants on horses, and princes walking like servants on the eretz.

King James Version
I have seen servants upon horses, and princes walking as servants upon the earth.

English Standard Version
I have seen slaves on horses, and princes walking on the ground like slaves.

New American Standard Bible
I have seen slaves riding on horses and princes walking like slaves on the land.

New Century Version
I have seen servants ride horses while princes walk like servants on foot.

Amplified Bible
I have seen slaves riding on horses and princes walking like slaves on the ground.

World English Bible
I have seen servants on horses, and princes walking like servants on the earth.

Geneva Bible (1587)
I haue seene seruants on horses, and princes walking as seruants on the ground.

Legacy Standard Bible
I have seen slaves riding on horses and princes walking like slaves on the land.

Berean Standard Bible
I have seen slaves on horseback, while princes go on foot like slaves.

Contemporary English Version
they let slaves ride on horses, but force slave owners to walk.

Complete Jewish Bible
I have seen servants riding horses, while princes walk on foot like slaves.

Darby Translation
I have seen servants upon horses, and princes walking as servants upon the earth.

George Lamsa Translation
I have seen servants riding upon horses, and princes walking like servants on the ground.

Good News Translation
I have seen slaves on horseback while noblemen go on foot like slaves.

Lexham English Bible
I have even seen slaves riding on horses and princes walking like slaves on the earth!

Literal Translation
I have seen slaves on horses, and rulers walking as slaves on the earth.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
I se seruauntes ryde vpon horses, & prynces goinge vpon their fete as it were seruauntes.

American Standard Version
I have seen servants upon horses, and princes walking like servants upon the earth.

Bible in Basic English
I have seen servants on horses, and rulers walking on the earth as servants.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
I have seen servants upon horses, and princes walking as servants upon the earth.

King James Version (1611)
I haue seene seruants vpon horses, and princes walking as seruants vpon the earth.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
I haue seene seruauntes ride vpon horses, and princes goyng vpon their feete as it were seruauntes.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
I have seen servants upon horses, and princes walking as servants on the earth.

English Revised Version
I have seen servants upon horses, and princes walking as servants upon the earth.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
I siy seruauntis on horsis, and princes as seruauntis goynge on the erthe.

Update Bible Version
I have seen slaves on horses, and princes walking like slaves on the earth.

Webster's Bible Translation
I have seen servants upon horses, and princes walking as servants upon the earth.

New English Translation
I have seen slaves on horseback and princes walking on foot like slaves.

New King James Version
I have seen servants on horses, While princes walk on the ground like servants.

New Living Translation
I have even seen servants riding horseback like princes—and princes walking like servants!

New Life Bible
I have seen servants riding on horses, and princes walking like servants on the land.

New Revised Standard
I have seen slaves on horseback, and princes walking on foot like slaves.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
I had seen, servants, upon horses, - and, rulers, walking like servants, on the ground.

Douay-Rheims Bible
I have seen servants upon horses: and princes walking on the ground as servants.

Revised Standard Version
I have seen slaves on horses, and princes walking on foot like slaves.

Young's Literal Translation
I have seen servants on horses, And princes walking as servants on the earth.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
I have seen slaves riding on horses and princes walking like slaves on the land.

Contextual Overview

⁴ Don't quit your job simply because the boss is angry with you. If you remain calm and helpful, you can correct even great mistakes. ⁵ Here is something else that I have seen in this life that isn't fair. It is the kind of mistake that rulers make. ⁶ Fools are given important positions, while the rich get jobs that are not important. ⁷ I have seen servants riding on horses, while rulers were walking beside them like slaves. ⁸ If you dig a hole, you might fall into it. If you break down a wall, you might be bitten by a snake. ⁹ If you are moving large stones, you might be hurt by them. If you cut down a tree, you are in danger of it falling on you. ¹⁰ But wisdom will make any job easier. It is very hard to cut with a dull knife. But if you sharpen the knife, the job is easier. ¹¹ Someone might know how to control snakes. But that skill is useless if a snake bites when that person is not around.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Proverbs 19:10, Proverbs 30:22

Reciprocal: 2 Samuel 15:17 - went forth Nehemiah 2:10 - the servant Ecclesiastes 10:17 - when Isaiah 23:7 - her own 2 Peter 2:10 - to speak

Cross-References

Genesis 2:11
The name of the first river was Pishon. This river flowed around the entire country of Havilah.

1 Kings 10:1
The queen of Sheba heard about Solomon, so she came to test him with hard questions.

Psalms 72:10
May the kings of Tarshish and all the faraway lands by the sea bring gifts to him. May the kings of Sheba and Seba bring their tribute to him.

Isaiah 21:13
This is a message about Arabia: A caravan from Dedan spent the night near some trees in the Arabian Desert.

Ezekiel 27:15
The people of Rhodes traded with you. You sold your things in many places. People brought ivory tusks and ebony wood to pay you.

Ezekiel 27:22
The merchants of Sheba and Raamah traded with you. They traded all the best spices and every kind of precious stone and gold for your goods.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

I have seen servants upon horses,.... Which being scarce in Judea, were only rode upon by princes and great personages, or such as were in affluent circumstances; and therefore it was an unusual and disagreeable sight to see servants upon them, which was a token of their being advanced upon the ruin and destruction of their masters; a reigning servant is not only uncomely, but one of the things by which the earth is disquieted, and it cannot bear, Proverbs 30:21; the Parthians and Persians distinguished their nobles and the vulgar, freemen and servants, by this; the servants went on foot, and the freemen rode on horses r;

and princes walking as servants upon the earth; degraded from their honour; banished from their thrones and palaces, or obliged to leave them, and reduced to the lowest state and condition: so David, when his son rebelled against him, and he was forced to flee from him, and walk on foot, 2 Samuel 15:30; Alshech thinks it may be a prophecy of the captivity of Israel, when they walked as servants on the earth, and the Gentiles rode on horses.

r Justin. e Trogo, l. 41. c. 3. Alex. ab Alex. Genial. Dier. l. 5. c. 19.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The “evil” of Ecclesiastes 10:5 is here specified as that caprice of a king by which an unworthy favorite of low origin is promoted to successive dignities, while a noble person is degraded or neglected.