Ecclesiastes 10:11
in Ecclesiastes 10If the snake bites before it is charmed, there is no profit for the charmer.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
If the serpent bite before it is charmed, then is there no advantage in the charmer.
KJV
Surely the serpent will bite without enchantment; and a babbler is no better.
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This verse in Ecclesiastes 10
Commentary
11 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Rather: “If a serpent without enchantment (i. e., not being enchanted) bites, then there is no advantage to the charmer”: i. e., if the charmer is unwisely slack in exercising his craft, he will be bitten like other people. See Psa 58:4 note.
This site's exposition
He that diggeth a pit
on Ecclesiastes 10:8-11
Four hazards of work in a row: the pit-digger falling in, the hedge-breaker bitten by the serpent that nests in old walls, the quarrier hurt by his stones, the wood-cleaver endangered by his axe. The pit proverb is the reversal figure Proverbs 26:27 and Psalm 7:15 carry, and the hedge's serpent is Palestinian masonry fact before it is a moral, as the bench notes. The blunt iron of verse 10 gives the cluster its lesson, wisdom is profitable to direct: sharpening the edge beats adding strength, and verse 11 adds the timing clause, the charmer's skill is worthless after the serpent has bitten.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers4 voices
The snake is powerful, when it spreads its poison secretly. In the one who is tricked, an impression is created that he has received something good which in reality is not good. The teacher who charms should not do so in a superflous way but …
"If a snake bites without hissing," Ecclesiastes says, "there is no advantage for the charmer," showing that the bite of a snake in silence is dangerous. This means that if a suggestion or thought springing from the devil is not by means of confession shown to some charmer (I mean some spiritually minded person who knows how to heal the wound at once by charms from the Scripture and how to extract the deadly poison of the snake from the heart), it will be impossible to help the sufferer who is already in danger and will no doubt die.
These silent bites are alone in fending off the medicine of the wise people. This deadly menace is so utterly incurable that it is worsened by soothings, inflamed by serious treatment, and irritated by gifts.
"If the snake bites because it has not been charmed, then there is no advantage to the charmer's art. "The meaning of this is very apparent: the serpent and the disparager are of the same ilk. For just as the hidden snake bites and injects its poison, so too the other disparages in private, and he pours out the poison of his heart against his brother, and there will be nothing between him and the serpent.
The Medieval Church1 voice
A commentator
BonaventureCommentary on Ecclesiastes, Chapter 10 · Written in the 13th century.
proposed
If it bites etc. Here he shows fourthly that one ought not secretly detract from such a prelate, and he shows the magnitude of the fault of detraction through a comparison in bodily things. Therefore he says: If a serpent bites in silence, which is …
4 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
He that is lord of the tongue (so the phrase is), a ruler that has liberty of speech and may say what he will, it is as dangerous dealing with him as with a serpent uncharmed; but, if you use the enchantment of a mild and humble submission, you may be safe and out of danger; herein wisdom, the meekness of wisdom, is profitable to direct.
Surely the serpent will bite without enchantment,.... See Jer 8:
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
A "serpent will bite" if "enchantment" is not used; "and a babbling calumniator is no better." Therefore, as one may escape a serpent by charms (Ps 58:4, 5), so one may escape the sting of a calumniator by discretion (Ec 10:12), [HOLDEN]. Thus, "without enchantment" answers to "not whet the edge" (Ec 10:10), both expressing, figuratively, want of judgment.
The serpent will bite without enchantment - בלא לחש belo lachash, without hissing. As a snake may bite before it hiss, so also will the babbler, talkative person, or calumniator. Without directly speaking evil, he insinuates, by innuendoes, things injurious to the reputation of his neighbor. Gif the eddir bite in silence, noyhing lasse than he hath that privily backbiteth - Old MS. Bible. “A babbler of his tongue is no better than a serpent that styngeth without hyssynge.” - Coverdale. The moral of this saying is simply this: A calumniator is as dangerous as a poisonous serpent; and from the envenomed tongue of slander and detraction no man is safe. The comparing the serpent, נחש nachash, to a babbler, has something singular in it. I have already supposed that the creature mentioned, Gen 3:1, was of the genus simia. This has been ridiculed, but not disproved.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
If the axe is blunt. Sharp swords, whose sharp edges have become dull. 15 The Gemara in Maseches Ta’anis 7b, applies this verse to the type of student to whom studies are hard as iron [=ברזל].
2 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
The words of a wise man find favor. In the eyes of their listeners, and they listen to him, and it is good for him that he assumes greatness over them.
10. And when the people of Israel sin, and the heavens will become hard as iron and not give rain and that generation does not pray before 'ה so that the rain does not fall therefore, the whole world is wasted by famine, and when they repent and are assembled overcome their Yetzer and appoint leaders to seek mercy from the God of Heaven, they have pleasure due to the abundance of the excellence of their wisdom..
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 3 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
9 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| אִם־ | ʾim- | if | H518 → | 1069 times |
| יִשֹּׁ֥ךְ | yishokh | it will bite | H5391 → | |
| הַנָּחָ֖שׁ | hanachash | the snake | H5175 → | |
| בְּלוֹא־ | belo'- | with not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| לָ֑חַשׁ | lachash | charming | H3908 → | |
| וְאֵ֣ין | veein | and there not | H369 → | 789 times |
| יִתְר֔וֹן | yitron | [is] profit | H3504 → | 10 times |
| לְבַ֖עַל | levaal | for [the] master of | H1167 → | 84 times |
| הַלָּשֽׁוֹן׃ | halashon | the tongue | H3956 → |
אִם־if
ʾim-H518 →1069 times
יִשֹּׁ֥ךְit will bite
yishokhH5391 →
הַנָּחָ֖שׁthe snake
hanachashH5175 →
בְּלוֹא־with not
belo'-H3808 →5168 times
לָ֑חַשׁcharming
lachashH3908 →
וְאֵ֣יןand there not
veeinH369 →789 times
יִתְר֔וֹן[is] profit
yitronH3504 →10 times
לְבַ֖עַלfor [the] master of
levaalH1167 →84 times
הַלָּשֽׁוֹן׃the tongue
halashonH3956 →
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Proverbs 18:21Life and death are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit.
it leads to
- Ephesians 4:29
Let no unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building up the one in need and bringing grace to those who listen.
- Matthew 12:35–37
The good man brings good things out of his good store of treasure, and the evil man brings evil things out of his evil store of treasure.
- Colossians 4:6
Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.
- Proverbs 10:19–21
When words are many, sin is unavoidable, but he who restrains his lips is wise.
- James 3:6–9
The tongue also is a fire, a world of wickedness among the parts of the body. It pollutes the whole person, sets the course of his life on fire, and is itself set on…
- Ephesians 4:29
Through
Psalms 64:3who sharpen their tongues like swords and aim their bitter words like arrows,
it leads to
- Psalms 57:4
My soul is among the lions; I lie down with ravenous beasts— with men whose teeth are spears and arrows, whose tongues are sharp swords.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Proverbs 12:18
Speaking rashly is like a piercing sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Psalms 57:4
Through
Psalms 52:2Your tongue devises destruction like a sharpened razor, O worker of deceit.
it leads to
- Proverbs 18:21
Life and death are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit.
- Proverbs 18:21
About Ecclesiastes
This page draws on 11 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Bonaventure, Commentary on Ecclesiastes, Chapter 10; Didymus the Blind, COMMENTARY ON ECCLESIASTES 304:20; Franz Delitzsch, Commentary on the Song of Songs and Ecclesiastes; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Ecclesiastes; John Cassian, CONFERENCE 2:9; John Cassian, CONFERENCE 18:16; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.