Ecclesiastes 10:15

Ecclesiastes 10:15 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)The labour of the foolish wearieth every one of them, because he knoweth not how to go to the city.
• New International Version (NIV)The toil of fools wearies them; they do not know the way to town.
• English Standard Version (ESV)The toil of a fool wearies him, for he does not know the way to the city.
• New King James Version (NKJV)The labor of fools wearies them, For they do not even know how to go to the city!

Context of Ecclesiastes 10:15

13the beginning of his talking is foolishness, and the end of it is evil insanity. 14Yet the fool multiplies words. No person knows what will happen, and who can tell him what will come after him? The labor of a fool makes him so weary that he does not even know how to go to a city. 16Woe to you, land whose king is a boy, and whose princes feast in the morning. 17Blessed are you, land whose king is of nobility, and whose princes eat at the appropriate time--for strength and not for drunkenness.

Ecclesiastes 10:15 word by word

עֲמַ֥ל הַכְּסִילִ֖ים תְּיַגְּעֶ֑נּוּ אֲשֶׁ֥ר לֹֽא־יָדַ֖ע לָלֶ֥כֶת אֶל־עִֽיר׃Read the interlinear

• The laborעָמָל‛âmâl · troubleH5999
• a foolכְּסִילkesîyl · foolH3684
• wearyיָגֵעַyâga‛ · be weary/toilH3021
• knowיָדַעyâda‛ · to knowH3045
• how to goהָלַךְhâlak · to go: journeyH1980
• to a cityעִיר‛îyr ‛âr ‛âyar · cityH5892

Cross-references for Ecclesiastes 10:15

• Ecclesiastes 10:3Even when the fool walks along the road, his sense is lacking, and he demonstrates to everyone that he is a fool.
• Isaiah 44:12The craftsman of iron shapes a cutting tool and does his work over the coals, fashioning it with hammers and working it with his strong arm. He also gets hungry and his strength fails; he drinks no water and becomes weary.
• Isaiah 47:12“Persist now in your spells And in your many sorceries With which you have labored from your youth; Perhaps you will be able to benefit, Perhaps you may cause trembling.
• Isaiah 55:2Why do you spend money for what is not bread, And your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, And delight yourself in abundance.
• Isaiah 57:1The righteous person perishes, and no one takes it to heart; And devout people are taken away, while no one understands. For the righteous person is taken away from evil,
• Habakkuk 2:6“Will all of these not take up a song of ridicule against him, Even a saying and insinuations against him And say, ‘Woe to him who increases what is not his-- For how long-- And makes himself rich with debts!’
• Matthew 11:28“Come to Me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
• Psalms 107:4They wandered in the wilderness in a desert region; They did not find a way to an inhabited city.
• Isaiah 35:8A highway will be there, a roadway, And it will be called the Highway of Holiness. The unclean will not travel on it, But it will be for the one who walks that way, And fools will not wander on it.
• Jeremiah 50:4“In those days and at that time,” declares the Lord, “the sons of Israel will come, they and the sons of Judah as well; they will go along weeping as they go, and it will be the Lord their God whom they will seek.

Commentaries on Ecclesiastes 10:15

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 15He knoweth not how to go to the city - I suppose this to be a proverb: "He knows nothing; he does not know his way to the next village." He may labor; but for want of judgment he wearies himself to no purpose.Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 15The sense is: “The fool wearies himself with ineffectual attempts, he has not sufficient knowledge for the transaction of ordinary business.”Read the comment
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 11-15Verses 11-15 There is a practice in the East, of charming serpents by music. The babbler's tongue is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison; and contradiction only makes it the more violent. We must find the way to keep him gentle. But by rash, unprincipled, or slanderous talk, he brings open or secret vengeance upon himself. Would we duly consider our own ignorance as to future events, it would cut off many idle words which we foolishly multiply. Fools…Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 15People who rarely work get tired quickly when they try to do it.Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 1515. labour ... wearieth--(Is 55:2; Ha 2:13). knoweth not how to go to the city--proverb for ignorance of the most ordinary matters (Ec 10:3); spiritually, the heavenly city (Psa 107:7; Mt 7:13, 14). Maurer connects Ec 10:15 with the following verses. The labor (vexation) caused by the foolish (injurious princes, Ec 10:4-7) harasses him who "knows not how to go to the city," to ingratiate himself with them there. English Version is simpler.Read the comment

Topics related to Ecclesiastes 10:15

• Fool

In the dictionaries

• Direct
• Idleness
• Prince
• Synagogue, the Great

Commentaries on Ecclesiastes 10

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
• Tyndale Open Study Notes
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
• Rashi on Tanakh
• Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
• John Wesley’s Notes
• Darby Translation Notes
• Geneva Bible Translation Notes
• Kingcomments
• Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
• Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
• EGW Writings