Ecclesiastes 10:15
in Ecclesiastes 10The toil of a fool wearies him, for he does not know the way to the city.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
The labor of fools wearieth every one of them; for he knoweth not how to go to the city.
KJV
The labour of the foolish wearieth every one of them, because he knoweth not how to go to the city.
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This verse in Ecclesiastes 10
Commentary
12 notes on this verse"The toil of fools exhausts them, as one who does not know the way to town. "Join these lines with the verse above; either to those verses that speak in general about fools, who know not God, or in particular to that one which argues about heretics. Read in Plato for example: unravel the tricks of Aristotle, read Zeno and Carneas more diligently, and you will prove to be true what is written here: the toil of fools exhausts them.
This site's exposition
The words of a wise man’s mouth are gracious
on Ecclesiastes 10:12-15
The fool's words cluster, traced as a progression: gracious words from the wise against lips that swallow up himself, a talk that begins in foolishness and ends in mischievous madness, and a fool full of words precisely about what no man can tell, the future. Verse 15's closing stroke, he knoweth not how to go to the city, is the proverb for incompetence in the obvious, as Gill reads it, wearied by labour that never finds the plain road everyone else can see. The cluster's order is its argument: words multiply as wisdom fails.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
By "town" he does not mean a place but the deed according to the law. The fool does "not even know the way to town." But the one who says, "Even if we live on earth, our citizenship is in heaven," "knows the way to …
It is we, who make rough with the nasty and hard stones of our desires the right and smooth paths of the Lord; who most foolishly forsake the royal road made stony with the flints of apostles and prophets, and trodden down by the footsteps of all the saints and of the Lord Himself, and seek trackless and thorny places, and, blinded by the allurements of present delights, tear our way with torn legs and our wedding garment rent, through dark paths, overrun with the briars of sins, so as not only to be pierced by the sharp thorns of the brambles but actually laid low by the bites of deadly serpents and scorpions lurking there. For "there are thorns and thistles in wrong ways, but he that feareth the Lord shall keep himself from them." And thus wandering from the king's highway, they can never arrive at that metropolis, whither our course should ever be directed without swerving. And this also Ecclesiastes has pretty significantly expressed saying: "The labour of fools wearies those who know not how to go to the city;" viz., that "heavenly Jerusalem, which is the mother of us all."
The Medieval Church2 voices
A commentator
BonaventureCommentary on Ecclesiastes, Chapter 10 · Written in the 13th century.
proposed
The labor of fools etc. Here thirdly he shows that in the fool there is a defect of fruitful operation, because in his labor he is much afflicted and profits little. Therefore he says: The labor of fools shall afflict them, because they do not …
A commentator
BonaventureCollations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 19 · Written in the 13th century.
proposed
How, then, should one strive for knowledge, wisdom and holiness? It is good to know in order to obtain the fruits of wisdom, in order that we may enter through the city doors. As Ecclesiastes writes, "the labor of fools shall afflict them that know …
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
Men's imprudent management of their business robs them both of the comfort and of the benefit of it. But it is the excellency of the way to the heavenly city that it is a high-way, in which the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err ( Isa. xxxv. 8 ); yet sinful folly makes men miss that way.
5 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Wearieth - Fools discover their folly by their wearisome and fruitless endeavours after things which are too high for them. Because - He is ignorant of those things which are most easy, as of the way to the great city whither he is going.
The labour of the foolish wearieth everyone of them,....
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
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.
He 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.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
The sense is: “The fool wearies himself with ineffectual attempts, he has not sufficient knowledge for the transaction of ordinary business.”
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| עֲמַ֥ל | ʾamal | [the] toil of | H5999 → | 55 times |
| הַכְּסִילִ֖ים | hakesilim | <the> fools | H3684 → | 70 times |
| תְּיַגְּעֶ֑נּוּ | teyaggeenu | it wearies him | H3021 → | |
| אֲשֶׁ֥ר | ʾasher | that | H834 → | 5497 times |
| לֹֽא־ | lo'- | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| יָדַ֖ע | yada' | he knows | H3045 → | 945 times |
| לָלֶ֥כֶת | lalekhet | to walk | H1980 → | 1546 times |
| אֶל־ | ʾel- | to | H413 → | 5510 times |
| עִֽיר׃ | ʾir | a city | H5892 → | 1090 times |
עֲמַ֥ל[the] toil of
ʾamalH5999 →55 times
הַכְּסִילִ֖ים<the> fools
hakesilimH3684 →70 times
תְּיַגְּעֶ֑נּוּit wearies him
teyaggeenuH3021 →
אֲשֶׁ֥רthat
ʾasherH834 →5497 times
לֹֽא־not
lo'-H3808 →5168 times
יָדַ֖עhe knows
yada'H3045 →945 times
לָלֶ֥כֶתto walk
lalekhetH1980 →1546 times
אֶל־to
ʾel-H413 →5510 times
עִֽיר׃a city
ʾirH5892 →1090 times
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
Isaiah 57:1The righteous perish, and no one takes it to heart; devout men are swept away, while no one considers that the righteous are guided from the presence of evil.
it leads to
- 2 Kings 22:20
‘Therefore I will indeed gather you to your fathers, and you will be gathered to your grave in peace. Your eyes will not see all the calamity that I will bring on this place.’”…
- Psalms 12:1
Help, O LORD, for the godly are no more; the faithful have vanished from among men.
- 2 Chronicles 34:28
‘Now I will indeed gather you to your fathers, and you will be gathered to your grave in peace. Your eyes will not see all the calamity that I will bring on this place…
- Micah 7:2
The godly man has perished from the earth; there is no one upright among men. They all lie in wait for blood; they hunt one another with a net.
- Isaiah 42:25
So He poured out on them His furious anger and the fierceness of battle. It enveloped them in flames, but they did not understand; it consumed them, but they did not take it to…
- 2 Kings 22:20
Through
Psalms 107:4Some wandered in desert wastelands, finding no path to a city in which to dwell.
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 32:10
He found him in a desert land, in a barren, howling wilderness; He surrounded him, He instructed him, He guarded him as the apple of His eye.
- Ezekiel 34:12
As a shepherd looks for his scattered sheep when he is among the flock, so I will look for My flock. I will rescue them from all the places to which they were scattered…
- Ezekiel 34:6
My flock went astray on all the mountains and every high hill. They were scattered over the face of all the earth, with no one to search for them or seek them out.’
- Deuteronomy 32:10
About Ecclesiastes
This page draws on 13 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; Bonaventure, Collations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 19; Charles Bridges, An Exposition of the Book of Ecclesiastes; Didymus the Blind, COMMENTARY ON ECCLESIASTES 308:1; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Ecclesiastes; John Cassian, CONFERENCE 24:24; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.