Ecclesiastes 10:11
Verse 11 of 20. The 10th of 12 chapters in Ecclesiastes, in Poetry and Wisdom.
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.
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.
Ecclesiastes 10:11 in the World English Bible
If the snake bites before it is charmed, then is there no profit for the charmer’s tongue.Read Ecclesiastes 10:11 in the WEB
Matthew Henry on Ecclesiastes 10:11
The mower loses no time when he is whetting his scythe. (2.) Wisdom will teach us to enchant the serpent we are to contend with, rather than think to out-hiss it (v. 11): The serpent will bite if he be not by singing and music charmed and enchanted, against which therefore he stops his ears (Ps. lviii. 4, 5); and a babbler is no better to all those who enter the lists with him, who therefore must not think by…
Read Matthew Henry on Ecclesiastes 10:4–11: Mutual Duties of Princes and Subjects.
Pray Ecclesiastes 10:11 with someone reading it aloud.
Start praying with Pray.comKing James Version. Public domain. Set as prose throughout, including the poetry, because the text is published to us without its lines.