10
📚Dead flies cause the ointment of the perfumer to stink; so does a little folly him who has a reputation for wisdom and honour. 2 📚A wise man’s heart moves toward his right, but a fool’s heart toward his left.
3 📚And even when the one who is a fool walks in the way, his wisdom fails him, and he says to everyone that he is a fool.
4 📚If the spirit of the ruler rises up against you, do not leave your place; for submission pacifies great offenses.
5 📚There is an evil I have seen under the sun, like an error that proceeds from the ruler:
6 📚Folly is given a very high place, and the rich sit in a low place.
7 📚I have seen servants on horses, and princes walking like servants on the ground.
8 📚He who digs a pit will fall into it, and whoever breaks through a hedge, will be bitten by a serpent.
10:8 When people try to do evil to others they themselves may be harmed the most (Eccl 7:14-16; 9:16; Ps 57:6; Prov 5:22).⚜
9 Whoever quarries stones will be hurt with them, and he who splits wood will be endangered by it.
10 📚If the iron axe is dull, and he does not sharpen the edge, then he must exert more strength. And wisdom has the advantage of success.
11 📚If the serpent bites before being charmed, there is no advantage to the charmer.
12 📚The words of a wise man’s mouth are gracious, but the lips of a fool consume him. 13 📚The beginning of the words of his mouth is foolishness, and the end of his talk is wicked madness.
14 📚A fool is also full of words. A man cannot tell what will happen, and who can tell him what will happen after him?
15 📚The labour of the fool wearies him; he does not even know how to go to the city.
Words about rulers
16 📚Woe to you, O land, when your king is a youth 📖, and your princes eat in the morning!
17 📚Blessed are you, O land, when your king is the son of nobles, and your princes eat at the proper time, for strength, and not for drunkenness!
18 📚By much laziness the building sags, and through idleness of the hands the house leaks.
19 📚A feast is made for laughter, and wine makes life merry, but money has the answer for everything.
20 📚Do not curse the king, not even in your thoughts; and do not curse the rich in your bedroom; for a bird of the air will carry the voice, and that which has wings will tell the matter.
10:1-20 Solomon thinks that even in a meaningless existence wisdom is superior to folly, and in this chapter he gives some proverbs to illustrate this truth.⚜