Ecclesiastes 10
Wise words about fools
One stinker can ruin everything
1A fly in the perfume can stink it up.And a fool can stink up wisdom—
Masking all scent of honor.
2Wise people are driven to do the right thing.
Fools drive on the other side of the road.
3Fools follow a trail marked “Fools.”
So, it’s easy to tell a fool is a fool.
4If the boss gets mad at you,
Stay on the job.
When the boss calms down,
You might be okay.
Bad stuff from people in authority
5I’ve seen terrible evil under this sun.It’s wickedness that comes with power.
6These leaders honor insignificant fools,
And disgrace the rich and the great.
7I’ve seen slaves riding on horses
Beside princes walking like slaves.
Make smart decisions
8If you dig a hole, you might fall in.If you tear down a wall, you might get snakebit.
9If you cut rocks in a quarry,
One day a rock will cut you.
If you split logs for a living,
You’re living dangerously.
10The duller your blade,
The harder you’ll work.
And the sharper [1] you are,
The better you’ll do.
11It’s worthless to call in a snake charmer
For a snake that prefers biting to charming.
Dangerous mouth of a fool
12Words of wise people will earn them respect.But fools can only hurt themselves
When they open their mouths.
13The end of a fool begins in the mouth
With foolish words the fool speaks.
Words turn to action,
Then it’s on to disaster.
14Yet the fool keeps talking.
No one has a clue what’s going to happen.
Who know what’s coming tomorrow?
15Fools wear themselves out with foolishness.
They’re too dumb to find their way home.
Don’t diss the king, says King Solomon
16Too bad if your king is a kidAnd his princes start to party in the morning. [2]
17You can be happy if your king is noble.
Be glad his princes eat to stay strong.
It’s not good if they party from dawn until drunk.
18If you’re too lazy to work,
Your roof will collapse. [3]
Laziness is why your house leaks.
19Parties with food can make people happy.
Wine adds spirit to the fun.
Money pays the tab for the grocery bill,
And everything else you’ll need.
20Don’t badmouth the king.
Don’t even think it.
Don’t badmouth the rich, either,
Not even in the privacy of your bedroom.
Some little bird might hear you
And carry your words on the wing. [4]
Footnotes
“Sharper” as in “wiser.”
This doesn’t sound like a birthday party. It sounds like a party-hearty with dancing girls, strong wine, and manly talk from boys who can’t grow beards.
Maintenance was required. Most homes in Bible times had flat roofs made from branches covered with mud and sometimes with thin tiles. After a rain, the people needed to use a roller to compress the dirt and mud back into the branches. Jesus once healed a man whose friends dug a hole in a roof and lowered the man to Jesus, who was surrounded by a crowd (Luke 5:19).
“Freedom” isn’t the right word to describe life in Israel under wise King Solomon. Criticizing the rich and powerful could be as dangerous then as it is in authoritarian nations today. Solomon exploited the people. He drafted citizens to build his palaces and fortress cities. He taxed them so heavily that when he died his son and successor vowed to continue overworking and overtaxing the citizens, 10 of the 12 tribes left the United Tribes of Israel. They formed a nation they called Israel, in the northland. The king was left with only his tribe of Judah, along with its teeny, tiny neighbor, Benjamin. They called their southland nation Judah.
