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.
Qoheleth (Ecclesiastes) 10
10
1Dead flies make the perfumer’s ointment stink, ferment; a little folly outweighs wisdom, esteem.
2A wise man’s heart is at his right hand, but a fool’s heart at his left.
3And also, when a fool walks along the way, his heart fails, and he shows everyone that he is a fool.
4If the spirit of the ruler rises against you, do not leave your post, for calmness lays to rest great faults.
5There is an evil I have seen under the sun, as a mistake coming from the ruler:
6Folly is set in many high positions, while the rich sit in a humble place.
7I have seen servants on horses – and rulers walking on the ground like servants.
8He who digs a pit falls into it, and whoever breaks through a wall is bitten by a snake.
9He who quarries stones is hurt by them. He who splits wood is endangered by it.
10If an iron tool is blunt, and one does not sharpen the edge, then he needs more strength, and wisdom is advantageous to make right.
11If the snake bites without enchantment, then ‘the master of the tongue’ is no better!
12Words of a wise man’s mouth show favour, but the lips of a fool swallow him up;
13the beginning of the words of his mouth is foolishness, and the end of his talk is wicked madness.
14And a fool increases words; a man knows not what shall come to be; and who declares to him what shall be after him?
15The labour of fools wearies them, because not one knows how to go to the city!
16Woe to you, O land, when your sovereign is a youth, and your rulers feast in the morning!
17Blessed are you, O land, when your sovereign is the son of nobles, and your rulers feast in due season – for strength and not for drunkenness!
18Because of laziness the framework tumbles, and through idleness of hands the house leaks.
19A feast is made for laughter, and wine gladdens life; and the silver answers all.
20Do not curse the sovereign, even in your thought; do not curse the rich, even in your bedroom; for a bird of the heavens conveys the voice, and a bird in flight makes the matter known.
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