King James Version, with Nii Okai's journal notes · 8 notes
Read Ecclesiastes 10 in the app
1Dead 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.
2A wise man’s heart is at his right hand; but a fool’s heart at his left.
It is another way of saying a wise man keeps his heart very diligently, because that is the source of your life.
It indeed must be guarded with your strength, but the fool holds such a vital organ, an organ for life and emotional health and wisdom etc., with his left hand, with nonchalance and carelessness.
3Yea 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.
Hm 🤔. True. Sometimes from my rooftop I see people walk by and past.
And you can just almost tell from their posture and predispositions how naive or wise they are, innocent and foolish, how experienced or young 🧒.
Sometimes you can even tell the good from the evil 😈.
Just by his walking you know a fool is passing by. There is something about one's demeanor that reeks of his wisdom or folly.
4If the spirit of the ruler rise up against thee, leave not thy place; for yielding pacifieth great offences.
5There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, as an error which proceedeth from the ruler:
6Folly is set in great dignity, and the rich sit in low place.
7I have seen servants upon horses, and princes walking as servants upon the earth.
8He that diggeth a pit shall fall into it; and whoso breaketh an hedge, a serpent shall bite him.
9Whoso removeth stones shall be hurt therewith; and he that cleaveth wood shall be endangered thereby.
10If the iron be blunt, and he do not whet the edge, then must he put to more strength: but wisdom is profitable to direct.
11Surely the serpent will bite without enchantment; and a babbler is no better.
A babbler will bite with his tongue 😝 if he is not kept at bay.
If you do not nip in the bud a babbler, he would destroy with his mouth.
12The words of a wise man’s mouth are gracious; but the lips of a fool will swallow up himself.
13The beginning of the words of his mouth is foolishness: and the end of his talk is mischievous madness.
14A fool also is full of words: a man cannot tell what shall be; and what shall be after him, who can tell him?
15The labour of the foolish wearieth every one of them, because he knoweth not how to go to the city.
16Woe to thee, O land, when thy king is a child, and thy princes eat in the morning!
17Blessed 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!
One of the scriptures I like; such aptness in wisdom.
18By much slothfulness the building decayeth; and through idleness of the hands the house droppeth through.
19A feast is made for laughter, and wine maketh merry: but money answereth all things.
20Curse 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.
Here King 👑 Solomon reveals a secret of the rich, wealthy and powerful; he reveals it and yet still hides it in a proverb.
The power players of our time have spies and loyalists. Some known and some unknown.
You speak against them and a bird 🐦 😊... A herald will inform him.
I'm sure Solomon as king had access to all manner of information and intel.
And he himself was at times shocked as to how the information came about.
Maybe someone was passing by a window and overheard someone probably talking to himself and musing over some sensitive information of the kingdom, and lo, the king gets to know.
Now he knows the heart of his people, or this person in his kingdom, but will still relate to him well, and such an one knows not what the king knows.
A knowledge which will be used against him by the king in due time.