Ecclesiastes 10:1-17 ▼

1 As dead flies cause even a bottle of perfume to stink, so a little foolishness spoils great wisdom and honor.

2 A wise person chooses the right road; a fool takes the wrong one.

3 You can identify fools just by the way they walk down the street!

4 If your boss is angry at you, don’t quit! A quiet spirit can overcome even great mistakes.

5 There is another evil I have seen under the sun. Kings and rulers make a grave mistake

6 when they give great authority to foolish people and low positions to people of proven worth.

7 I have even seen servants riding horseback like princes—and princes walking like servants!

8 When you dig a well, you might fall in. When you demolish an old wall, you could be bitten by a snake.

9 When you work in a quarry, stones might fall and crush you. When you chop wood, there is danger with each stroke of your ax.

10 Using a dull ax requires great strength, so sharpen the blade. That’s the value of wisdom; it helps you succeed.

11 If a snake bites before you charm it, what’s the use of being a snake charmer?

12 Wise words bring approval, but fools are destroyed by their own words.

13 Fools base their thoughts on foolish assumptions, so their conclusions will be wicked madness;

14 they chatter on and on. No one really knows what is going to happen; no one can predict the future.

15 Fools are so exhausted by a little work that they can’t even find their way home.

16 What sorrow for the land ruled by a servant, the land whose leaders feast in the morning.

17 Happy is the land whose king is a noble leader and whose leaders feast at the proper time to gain strength for their work, not to get drunk.