King James Version › Ecclesiastes › 10

Ecclesiastes

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1 Dead flies cause the oint­ment of the apothe­cary to send forth a stink­ing savour: ­so doth a lit­tle fol­ly him that is in rep­u­ta­tion for wis­dom and hon­our. 2 A wise man's heart is at his right hand; but a fool's heart at his left. 3 Yea al­so, when he that is a fool walketh by the way, his wis­dom faileth him, and he saith to ev­ery one that he is a fool. 4 If the spir­it of the ruler rise up against thee, leave not thy place; for yield­ing paci­fi­eth great of­fences. 5 There is an evil which I have seen un­der the sun, as an er­ror which pro­ceedeth from the ruler: 6 Fol­ly is set in great dig­ni­ty, and the rich sit in low place. 7 I have seen ser­vants upon hors­es, and princes walk­ing as ser­vants upon the earth. 8 He that diggeth a pit shall fall into it; and whoso breaketh an hedge, a ser­pent shall bite him. 9 Whoso re­moveth stones shall be hurt there­with; and he that cleaveth wood shall be en­dan­gered there­by. 10 If the iron be blunt, and he do not whet the edge, then must he put to more strength: but wis­dom is prof­itable to di­rect. 11 Sure­ly the ser­pent will bite with­out en­chant­ment; and a bab­bler is no bet­ter. 12 The words of a wise man's mouth are gra­cious; but the lips of a fool will swal­low up him­self. 13 The be­gin­ning of the words of his mouth is fool­ish­ness: and the end of his talk is mis­chievous mad­ness. 14 A fool also is full of words: a man can­not tell what shall be; and what shall be af­ter him, who can tell him? 15 The labour of the fool­ish wea­ri­eth ev­ery one of them, be­cause he knoweth not how to go to the city. 16 Woe to thee, O land, when thy king is a child, and thy princes eat in the morn­ing! 17 Blessed art thou, O land, when thy king is the son of no­bles, and thy princes eat in due sea­son, for strength, and not for drunk­en­ness! 18 By much sloth­ful­ness the build­ing de­cayeth; and through idle­ness of the hands the house drop­peth through. 19 A feast is made for laugh­ter, and wine maketh mer­ry: but mon­ey an­swereth all things. 20 Curse not the king, no not in thy thought; and curse not the rich in thy bed­cham­ber: for a bird of the air shall car­ry the voice, and that which hath wings shall tell the mat­ter.