Ecclesiastes 4:16

16 There may be no limit to the number of people a king rules; when he is gone, no one will be grateful for what he has done. It is useless. It is like chasing the wind.

Ecclesiastes 4:16 Meaning and Commentary

Ecclesiastes 4:16

[There is] no end of all the people, [even] of all that have
been before them
Before the present generation, the living that walked under the sun; a vast number they were that lived before them, and they were of the same restless temper and disposition; changeable in their affection and behaviour towards their governors; no end of their number, nor any stable affection for, nor settled satisfaction in, their rulers; but this itch of novelty, of having new princes over them, went from age to age, from generation to generation. Some understand this of the king and his son, the predecessor and successor, and of those that went before them; and of their behaviour to the kings that reigned before them; the people have not their end or satisfaction in their governors, but are restless: which comes to the same sense; they also that come after shall not rejoice in him;
that come after the present generation, and after both the reigning prince, and even after his successor; they will not rejoice long in him that shall be upon the throne after them, any more than the present subjects of the old king, or those that now pay their court to the heir apparent; they will be so far from rejoicing in him, that they will loath and despise him, and wish him dead or dethroned, and another in his room. Surely this also [is] vanity and vexation of spirit;
to a king, to see himself thus used by his subjects; for a short time extolled and praised, and then despised and forsaken.

Ecclesiastes 4:16 In-Context

15 I thought about all the people who live in this world, and I realized that somewhere among them there is a young man who will take the king's place.

16 There may be no limit to the number of people a king rules; when he is gone, no one will be grateful for what he has done. It is useless. It is like chasing the wind.