Ecclesiastes 10:6-17

6when they give great authority to foolish people and low positions to people of proven worth.

7I have even seen servants riding horseback like princes—and princes walking like servants!

8When you dig a well, you might fall in. When you demolish an old wall, you could be bitten by a snake.

9When you work in a quarry, stones might fall and crush you. When you chop wood, there is danger with each stroke of your ax.

10Using a dull ax requires great strength, so sharpen the blade. That’s the value of wisdom; it helps you succeed.

11If a snake bites before you charm it, what’s the use of being a snake charmer?

12Wise words bring approval, but fools are destroyed by their own words.

13Fools base their thoughts on foolish assumptions, so their conclusions will be wicked madness;

14they chatter on and on. No one really knows what is going to happen; no one can predict the future.

15Fools are so exhausted by a little work that they can’t even find their way home.

16What sorrow for the land ruled by a servant, the land whose leaders feast in the morning.

17Happy is the land whose king is a noble leader and whose leaders feast at the proper time to gain strength for their work, not to get drunk.