Ecclesiastes 10

₁Perfume smells good, but if there are dead flies in it, it will become bad and stink. It is the same with people. If a wise person does a few foolish things, his wisdom will look bad and people will not respect him. ₂The mind of a wise man makes him do what is right, but the mind of a fool makes him do what is wrong. ₃Even if a fool walks on the street, people can see that he does not understand. He shows everyone that he is a fool.

₄Don't leave the work that you are doing if your ruler becomes angry with you, because if you stay calm, he will forget that you have made him angry. ₅I saw something that is not fair in this world. It is the mistakes that rulers and important people make: ₆They sometimes let fools work at important places and let rich people work at unimportant places. ₇I have seen fools riding on horses and leaders who had to walk like slaves.

₈If someone digs a hole in the ground, he can fall into the hole himself. If someone starts breaking down a wall, a snake can come out and bite him. ₉If someone breaks rocks, the rocks can hurt him. If someone cuts down trees, he must be careful. ₁₀If you cut wood with an axe that is not sharp, you have to work harder, but if you have wisdom, you will succeed. ₁₁If a snake bites someone before he charms the snake, it does not help if he charms the snake later.

₁₂When a wise man talks, people listen and they are friendly to him, but when a fool talks, he makes problems for himself. ₁₃When a fool starts to talk, he says things that are foolish, but at the end it becomes even worse. ₁₄A fool talks and talks about things that can happen, but no one knows what will happen later and no one can tell what will happen after we have died. ₁₅A fool gets very tired when he has to work. He does not even know how to get home.

₁₆If the king of a land thinks like a child, things will be very bad for that land. This will also happen if its officials have feasts all day long. ₁₇A land can be happy if its king comes from a good and important family and its officials eat and drink at the right time to become strong, and they don't become drunk. ₁₈If someone is lazy, the roof of his house will fall down. If he doesn't repair his roof, water will flow into his house. ₁₉People eat food to enjoy it, and they drink wine to make them feel happy, but if they have a lot of money, they can buy anything they want. ₂₀Don't ever curse the king. Don't even think about doing it. Don't ever curse rich people, not even in your bedroom, because maybe a little bird or an insect will hear what you say and go and tell them what you have said.