Ecclesiastes 10

Ecclesiastes 10:1

Dead flies cause the ointment of the apothecary to send forth a stinking savour: so doth a little folly him that is in reputation for wisdom and honour.

Let the ointment be never so fragrant, yet if dead flies be suffered to corrupt in it, the sweet smell thereof will be turned to a loathsome stench; so let a man be in never so good reputation for wisdom and honour, yet some one foolish humour and weak miscarriage of his mars and stains his estimation.

Ecclesiastes 10:2

A wise man’s heart is at his right hand; but a fool’s heart at his left.

A wise man’s heart is apt to give meet counsels, and to suggest dexterous and ready ways for the performance of any enterprize; whereas the fool’s heart, and hand, goes sinisterly to work, and is utterly unapt to all good uses.

Ecclesiastes 10:3

Yea also, when he that is a fool walketh by the way, his wisdom faileth him, and he saith to every one that he is a fool.

Yea, let the fool but walk by the way, and his very motion, and gesture, shows what he is, and proclaims his want of wit: much more do his words and actions bewray him.

Ecclesiastes 10:4

If the spirit of the ruler rise up against thee, leave not thy place; for yielding pacifieth great offences.

If the prince be angry with thee, do not, in a stomach or

Ecclesiastes 10:5

As an error which proceedeth from the ruler.

As an error, that proceeds from princes, in the ill choice which they make of those whom they promote.

Ecclesiastes 10:6

Folly is set in great dignity, and the rich sit in low place.

That foolish and unfit men are advanced to places of dignity and employments in public affairs, while those that are truly able, both for their parts and estate, and are well worthy of eminent places, are neglected and disregarded;

Ecclesiastes 10:7

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

Which, what is it other, than as if servants should ride on horseback, while princes walk by their stirrups, as their grooms on foot in a servile attendance?

Ecclesiastes 10:8

He that diggeth a pit shall fall into it; and whoso breaketh an hedge, a serpent shall bite him.

It is a dangerous matter, to attempt any thing against authority and established government: whosoever doth so, doth but dig a pit whereinto himself shall fall; and, while he is breaking up an old hedge, is unawares stung with an adder that lay under those bushes.

Ecclesiastes 10:9

Whoso removeth stones shall be hurt therewith; and he that cleaveth wood shall be endangered thereby.

Such a one doth as the man, who, while he labours to remove an old heap of stones, bruiseth his feet; or, as he, who, cleaving of wood, cuts himself with the axe, or receives some of the splinters into his eye.

Ecclesiastes 10:10

If the iron be blunt, and he do not whet the edge, then must he put to more strength: but wisdom is profitable to direct.

Strength without wit prevails not: if the axe be blunt and want an edge, there needs much force to be put to it in vain: wisdom doth, as it were, whet the edge of the axe, and directs to do that, with ease, which otherwise cannot be achieved with much labour.

Ecclesiastes 10:11

Surely the serpent will bite without enchantment; and a babbler is no better.

As the serpent which is not charmed will bite or sting the passenger, so will a busy and babbling detractor wound the absent, with his malicious tongue.

Ecclesiastes 10:12

But the lips of a fool will swallow up himself.

The words of a fool will be the occasion of his own undoing.

Ecclesiastes 10:14

A fool also is full of words: a man cannot tell what shall be; and what shall be after him, who can tell him?

A fool is full of words: a man cannot tell what he would have, or what he would say; and what the end of his speech or drift will be, no man can tell.

Ecclesiastes 10:15

The labour of the foolish wearieth every one of them, because he knoweth not how to go to the city.

Fools tire out themselves with laboursome and needless circuitions; and, out of simplicity, fetch large compasses over untracked ways, because they do not so much as know the beaten road to the city, which is both easy and short.

Ecclesiastes 10:16

Woe to thee, O land, when thy king is a child, and thy princes eat in the morning!

Woe to thee, O land, whose king, being unmeet for age or impotency to sway the public government, is not assisted with temperate and orderly peers, but such as spend that time, which they should set apart to justice, in riot and revelling.

Ecclesiastes 10:17

Blessed art thou, O land, when thy king is the son of nobles, and thy princes eat in due season, for strength, and not for drunkenness!

Blessed art thou, O land, whose king is royally descended, and whose princes are sober and temperate; eating and drinking seasonably, and without excess, as those that would nourish their health, and not their luxury and disorder.

Ecclesiastes 10:19

A feast is made for laughter, and wine maketh merry; but money answereth all things.

Feasts are for jollity and pleasure, and wine is for mirth; but it is money, that must provide these, and all other helps, whether for delight or necessity.

Ecclesiastes 10:20

Curse not the king, no not in thy thought; and curse not the rich in thy bedchamber: for a bird of the air shall carry the voice, and that which hath wings shall tell the matter.

Do not entertain so much as an undutiful thought in thy heart, concerning thy sovereign; neither do thou speak evil of great persons that are in authority, so much as in thy bedchamber; for God will find means to bring it out, and revenge it; and rather than it should not be revealed, God will cause the very fowls of the air to disclose it.