Ecclesiastes 10:1-7, King James Version
Italic words were supplied in the English translation for clarity.
Ecclesiastes 10:1-7
Small Folly and Political Inversion
Dead flies, a little folly, and servants on horses
Dead flies cause the ointment of the apothecary to send forth a stinking savour; so does a little folly him that is in reputation for wisdom. A wise man's heart is at his right hand; a fool's at his left. Yea also, when he that is a fool walks by the way, his wisdom fails him, and he says to every one that he is a fool.
If the spirit of the ruler rise against thee, leave not thy place; for yielding pacifies great offences. There is an evil: folly is set in great dignity, and the rich sit in low place. Servants upon horses, and princes walking as servants upon the earth. The inversions are observations of a disordered court, not a caste theology, and yielding is counsel under a rising ruler, not a rule that the abused must always stay.
How this should shape us
Protect a reputation by refusing small folly, and read a court's inversions without despising servants. If a ruler's spirit rises, seek de-escalation that does not require you to remain in harm.
Teach it back
Explain Ecclesiastes 10:1-7 in your own words. Include its movement, one material uncertainty, and one harmful or reductive use the context rules out.
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Go deeper
The explanation above is meant to stand on its own. Open these notes only if you want language, history, disagreements, or source locations.
Where careful interpreters disagreeThe strongest options and their difficulties
Where do careful interpreters disagree?
Best judgment: Whether 10:4 advises staying at one's post, calm submission, or a healing response and whether 10:7 critiques social inversion or incompetent appointment are debated.
How certain? probableResearch trail and exact locationsThe source record behind this section
Supports: Exact displayed Scripture wording, paragraph markers, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage.
Ecclesiastes 10:1-7, repository-pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording and morphology used for lexical, grammatical, repeated-word, and translation questions.
Open Scriptures MorphHB v2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Eccl.xml, 10:1-7
Supports: Verse-level textual, grammatical, lexical, literary, and translation alternatives.
NET Bible Ecclesiastes PDF, printed pp. 1217-1218, translation and notes on 10:1-7
Supports: Whole-book orientation, language and date questions, Qoheleth's voice, unit movement, irony, contradiction, enjoyment, death, judgment, and epilogue.
Weeks, 'Ecclesiastes,' Oxford Bible Commentary, printed pp. 422-428, commentary relevant to 10:1-7
Supports: Context-sensitive hebel proposals and a political-economic reading of work, wealth, oppression, consumption, and royal power.
Biwul, 'The use of hebel in Ecclesiastes,' HTS 73.3 (2017), pp. 1-10, discussion relevant to 10:1-7
Sources for This Section
These records identify the source, the claim it supports, and the exact location used. A source remains evidence to evaluate; it does not replace the biblical text.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact displayed Scripture wording, paragraph markers, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage.
Exact location: Ecclesiastes 10:1-7, repository-pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Ecclesiastes
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording and morphology used for lexical, grammatical, repeated-word, and translation questions.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Eccl.xml, 10:1-7
Open source ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible: Ecclesiastes with translators' notes
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2006
Supports: Verse-level textual, grammatical, lexical, literary, and translation alternatives.
Exact location: NET Bible Ecclesiastes PDF, printed pp. 1217-1218, translation and notes on 10:1-7
Open source ↗modern critical commentary
Ecclesiastes
Stuart Weeks
Oxford University Press, in The Oxford Bible Commentary, 2001
Supports: Whole-book orientation, language and date questions, Qoheleth's voice, unit movement, irony, contradiction, enjoyment, death, judgment, and epilogue.
Exact location: Weeks, 'Ecclesiastes,' Oxford Bible Commentary, printed pp. 422-428, commentary relevant to 10:1-7
Open source ↗peer reviewed open access journal article
The use of hebel in Ecclesiastes: A political and economic reading
Joel K. T. Biwul
HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies 73.3, article a4571, 2017
Supports: Context-sensitive hebel proposals and a political-economic reading of work, wealth, oppression, consumption, and royal power.
Exact location: Biwul, 'The use of hebel in Ecclesiastes,' HTS 73.3 (2017), pp. 1-10, discussion relevant to 10:1-7
Open source ↗