Ecclesiastes 10:9-19

9 He that beareth over stones, shall be tormented in those; and he that cutteth trees, shall be wounded of those. (He who carrieth stones, can be hurt by them; and he who cutteth wood, can be injured when cutting it.)
10 If iron is folded again, and it is not as before, but is made blunt, it shall be made sharp with much travail; and wisdom shall follow after busyness.
11 If a serpent biteth, it biteth in silence; he that backbiteth privily, hath nothing less than it (he who privately, or secretly, backbiteth someone is no better).
12 The words of the mouth of a wise man be grace; and the lips of an unwise man shall cast him down. (The words out of the mouth of a wise person bring him favour; but the lips of an unwise person shall bring him down.)
13 The beginning of his words is folly; and the last thing of his mouth is the worst error. (His words begin with foolishness; and the last thing out of his mouth is the worst error of all.)
14 A fool multiplieth words; a man knoweth not, what was before him, and who may show to him that, that shall come after him? (and who can show him what shall come after him?)
15 The travail of fools shall torment them, that know not how to go into the city. (Fools work themselves to exhaustion, yet they do not even know how to go into the city.)
16 Land, woe to thee, whose king is a child, and whose princes eat early.
17 Blessed is the land, whose king is noble; and whose princes eat in their time, to (only) sustain the(ir) kind, and not to lechery. (Happy is the land, whose king is well born, or refined; and whose leaders eat at the proper time, only to sustain themselves, and not unto drunkenness.)
18 The highness of houses shall be made low in sloths; and the house shall drop (rain) in the feebleness of hands (and a house shall leak due to feeble, or weak, hands).
19 In laughing, they dispose bread and wine, that they drinking eat largely; and all things obey to money. (With laughter, they array the table with bread and wine, so that they can enjoy all the abundance; for everything showeth obedience to money.)
Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.