Ecclesiastes 10
10
1Dead flies can make a whole bottle of perfume stink, and a little stupidity can cancel out the greatest wisdom.
2It is natural for the wise to do the right thing and for fools to do the wrong thing. 3Their stupidity will be evident even to strangers they meet along the way; they let everyone know that they are fools.
4If your ruler becomes angry with you, do not hand in your resignation; serious wrongs may be pardoned if you keep calm.#10.4 keep calm; or submit to him.
5Here is an injustice I have seen in the world — an injustice caused by rulers. 6Stupid people are given positions of authority while the rich are ignored. 7I have seen slaves on horseback while noblemen go on foot like slaves.
8 #
Ps 7.15; Prov 26.27 If you dig a pit, you fall in it; if you break through a wall, a snake bites you. 9If you work in a stone quarry, you get hurt by stones. If you split wood, you get hurt doing it. 10If your axe is blunt and you don't sharpen it, you have to work harder to use it. It is more sensible to plan ahead. 11Knowing how to charm a snake is of no use if you let the snake bite first. 12What the wise say brings them honour, but fools are destroyed by their own words. 13They start out with silly talk and end up with pure madness. 14A fool talks on and on.
No one knows what is going to happen next, and no one can tell us what will happen after we die.
15Only someone too stupid to find his way home would wear himself out with work.
16A country is in trouble when its king is a youth and its leaders feast all night long. 17But a country is fortunate to have a king who makes his own decisions and leaders who eat at the proper time, who control themselves and don't get drunk.
18When someone is too lazy to repair his roof, it will leak, and the house will fall in.
19Feasting makes you happy and wine cheers you up, but you can't have either without money.
20Don't criticize the king, even silently, and don't criticize the rich, even in the privacy of your bedroom. A bird might carry the message and tell them what you said.
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Ecclesiastes 10: GNBDC
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Good News Bible. Scripture taken from the Good News Bible (r) (Today's English Version Second Edition, UK/British Edition). Copyright © 1992 British & Foreign Bible Society. Used by permission.
Ecclesiastes 10
10
1 Dying flies ruin the sweetness of the ointment. Wisdom and glory is more precious than a brief and limited foolishness.
2 The heart of a wise man is in his right hand, and the heart of a foolish man is in his left hand.
3 Moreover, as a foolish man is walking along the way, even though he himself is unwise, he considers everyone to be foolish.
4 If the spirit of one who holds authority rises over you, do not leave your place, because attentiveness will cause the greatest sins to cease.
5 There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, proceeding from the presence of a prince, as if by mistake:
6 a foolish man appointed to a high dignity, and the rich sitting beneath him.
7 I have seen servants on horses, and princes walking on the ground like servants.
8 Whoever digs a pit will fall into it. And whoever tears apart a hedge, a snake will bite him.
9 Whoever carries away stones will be harmed by them. And whoever cuts down trees will be wounded by them.
10 If the iron is dull, and if it was not that way before, but has been made dull by much labor, then it will be sharpened. And wisdom will follow after diligence.
11 Whoever slanders in secret is nothing less than a snake that bites silently.
12 Words from the mouth of a wise man are graceful, but the lips of a foolish man will throw him down with violence.
13 At the beginning of his words is foolishness, and at the end of his talk is a most grievous error.
14 The fool multiplies his words. A man does not know what has been before him, and who is able to reveal to him what will be in the future after him?
15 The hardship of the foolish will afflict those who do not know to go into the city.
16 Woe to you, the land whose king is a boy, and whose princes consume in the morning.
17 Blessed is the land whose king is noble, and whose princes eat at the proper time, for refreshment and not for self-indulgence.
18 By laziness, a framework shall be brought down, and by the weakness of hands, a house shall collapse through.
19 While laughing, they make bread and wine, so that the living may feast. And all things are obedient to money.
20 You should not slander the king, even in your thoughts, and you should not speak evil of a wealthy man, even in your private chamber. For even the birds of the air will carry your voice, and whatever has wings will announce your opinion.
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