Ecclesiastes 10

¹Dead flies corrupt and spoil the perfumer’s oil;

more weighty than wisdom or wealth is a little folly!

²The wise heart turns to the right;

the foolish heart to the left.

³Even when walking in the street the fool, lacking understanding, calls everyone a fool.[#: or, “tells everyone that he (himself) is a fool.”]

⁴Should the anger of a ruler burst upon you, do not yield your place; for calmness abates great offenses.[#: a frequent motif of wisdom; silence and reserve characterize the wise, while boisterousness and impetuosity identify the fool.]

⁵I have seen under the sun another evil, like a mistake that proceeds from a tyrant:

⁶a fool put in high position, while the great and the rich sit in lowly places.

⁷I have seen slaves on horseback, while princes went on foot like slaves.[#: another wisdom motif: astonishment at the reversal of the usual order in the world and in human affairs.]

⁸Whoever digs a pit may fall into it,[#Prv 26:27; Ps 7:16; Sir 27:29.]

and whoever breaks through a wall, a snake may bite.

⁹Whoever quarries stones may be hurt by them,

and whoever chops wood is in danger from it.

¹⁰If the ax becomes dull, and the blade is not sharpened, then effort must be increased. But the advantage of wisdom is success.

¹¹If the snake bites before it is charmed,

then there is no advantage in a charmer.

¹²Words from the mouth of the wise win favor,

but the lips of fools consume them.

¹³The beginning of their words is folly,[#Eccl 5:2; 6:11.]

and the end of their talk is utter madness;

¹⁴yet fools multiply words.

No one knows what is to come,

for who can tell anyone what will be?

¹⁵The toil of fools wearies them,

so they do not know even the way to town.

¹⁶Woe to you, O land, whose king is a youth,[#: thus too young and inexperienced to govern effectively. : either concluding a whole night of revelry or beginning a new round of merrymaking.]

and whose princes feast in the morning!

¹⁷Happy are you, O land, whose king is of noble birth,

and whose princes dine at the right time—

for vigor and not in drinking bouts.

¹⁸Because of laziness, the rafters sag;

when hands are slack, the house leaks.

¹⁹A feast is made for merriment

and wine gives joy to the living,

but money answers for everything.

²⁰Even in your thoughts do not curse the king,

nor in the privacy of your bedroom curse the rich;

For the birds of the air may carry your voice,

a winged creature may tell what you say.