10 If the ax is dull
    and its edge unsharpened,
more strength is needed,
    but skill will bring success.

11 If a snake bites before it is charmed,
    the charmer receives no fee.(A)

12 Words from the mouth of the wise are gracious,(B)
    but fools are consumed by their own lips.(C)
13 At the beginning their words are folly;
    at the end they are wicked madness—
14     and fools multiply words.(D)

No one knows what is coming—
    who can tell someone else what will happen after them?(E)

15 The toil of fools wearies them;
    they do not know the way to town.

16 Woe to the land whose king was a servant[a](F)
    and whose princes feast in the morning.
17 Blessed is the land whose king is of noble birth
    and whose princes eat at a proper time—
    for strength and not for drunkenness.(G)

18 Through laziness, the rafters sag;
    because of idle hands, the house leaks.(H)

19 A feast is made for laughter,
    wine(I) makes life merry,
    and money is the answer for everything.

20 Do not revile the king(J) even in your thoughts,
    or curse the rich in your bedroom,
because a bird in the sky may carry your words,
    and a bird on the wing may report what you say.

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Footnotes

  1. Ecclesiastes 10:16 Or king is a child

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.

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