Ecclesiastes 10:6
in Ecclesiastes 10Folly is appointed to great heights, but the rich sit in lowly positions.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
folly is set in great dignity, and the rich sit in a low place.
KJV
Folly is set in great dignity, and the rich sit in low place.
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This verse in Ecclesiastes 10
Commentary
10 notes on this verse"There is an evil that I have observed in the world as if it were an error proceeding from the ruler: folly is placed on lofty heights, while rich men sit in low places. I have seen slaves on horses and nobles walking on foot like slaves. "Where we read "as if it were an error proceeding from the ruler" Aquila, Theodotion and the Septuagint have interpreted this as "as if not of their own will", that is "hos akousian", from the face of the ruler.
This site's exposition
If the ruler’s temper flares against you
on Ecclesiastes 10:4-7
The court cluster opens: If the ruler’s temper flares against you, do not abandon your post, for calmness lays great offenses to rest. Then comes an error that proceeds from the ruler: Folly is appointed to great heights, and I have seen slaves on horseback.
This site's exposition
Folly is appointed to great heights
Jamieson, Fausset and Brown read the rich as men rich in wisdom, set against the folly placed on high. Barnes sees a king's whim raising a low favorite while a noble man is passed over. Henry calls it an ill day for a people.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
A commentator
BonaventureCommentary on Ecclesiastes, Chapter 10 · Written in the 13th century.
proposed
And he expresses what that evil is with regard to the defect of knowledge: The fool set in high dignity: set, he rightly says, because there is nothing there but a false placing: Psalm: "You set them up, you cast them down when they were …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
), either the ruler knows not how to value them or the terms of preferment are such as they cannot in conscience comply with. It is ill with a people when vicious men are advanced and men of worth are kept under hatches.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
Folly is set in great dignity,....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
The “evil” of Ecc 10:5 is here specified as that caprice of a king by which an unworthy favorite of low origin is promoted to successive dignities, while a noble person is degraded or neglected.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
rich--not in mere wealth, but in wisdom, as the antithesis to "folly" (for "foolish men") shows. So Hebrew, rich, equivalent to "liberal," in a good sense (Isa 32:5).
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
2 more voices on this verse
Modern Voices2 voices
He had a hundred virtues, including the capital virtue of good humour, and we had no difficulty in changing the subject and forgetting the disagreement. He talked about society, his town friends and his country sports, and I discovered in the course of it that …
The fundamental fact of our time is the failure of the successful man. Somehow we have so arranged the rules of the game that the winners are worthless for other purposes; they can secure nothing except the prize. The very rich are neither aristocrats nor …
The words behind it
7 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| נִתַּ֣ן | nitan | it is put | H5414 → | 2011 times |
| הַסֶּ֔כֶל | hasekhel | <the> folly | H5529 → | |
| בַּמְּרוֹמִ֖ים | bameromim | in <the> high places | H4791 → | |
| רַבִּ֑ים | rabim | many | H7227 → | 454 times |
| וַעֲשִׁירִ֖ים | vaashirim | and rich [people] | H6223 → | 23 times |
| בַּשֵּׁ֥פֶל | bashefel | in the low place | H8216 → | |
| יֵשֵֽׁבוּ׃ | yeshevu | they sit | H3427 → |
נִתַּ֣ןit is put
nitanH5414 →2011 times
הַסֶּ֔כֶל<the> folly
hasekhelH5529 →
בַּמְּרוֹמִ֖יםin <the> high places
bameromimH4791 →
רַבִּ֑יםmany
rabimH7227 →454 times
וַעֲשִׁירִ֖יםand rich [people]
vaashirimH6223 →23 times
בַּשֵּׁ֥פֶלin the low place
bashefelH8216 →
יֵשֵֽׁבוּ׃they sit
yeshevuH3427 →
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 29:2When the righteous flourish, the people rejoice, but when the wicked rule, the people groan.
it leads to
- Proverbs 28:12
When the righteous triumph, there is great glory, but when the wicked rise, men hide themselves.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Proverbs 11:10
When the righteous thrive, the city rejoices, and when the wicked perish, there are shouts of joy.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Proverbs 28:28
When the wicked come to power, people hide themselves; but when they perish, the righteous flourish.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Esther 8:15
Mordecai went out from the presence of the king in royal garments of blue and white, with a large gold crown and a purple robe of fine linen. And the city of Susa shouted…
- Ecclesiastes 10:5
There is an evil I have seen under the sun—an error that proceeds from the ruler:
- Proverbs 28:12
Through
Proverbs 28:12When the righteous triumph, there is great glory, but when the wicked rise, men hide themselves.
it leads to
- Proverbs 29:2
When the righteous flourish, the people rejoice, but when the wicked rule, the people groan.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Proverbs 29:2
Through
Proverbs 28:28When the wicked come to power, people hide themselves; but when they perish, the righteous flourish.
it leads to
- Job 24:4
They push the needy off the road and force all the poor of the land into hiding.
- Acts 12:23–24
Immediately, because Herod did not give glory to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died.
- Job 24:4
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
About Ecclesiastes
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Bonaventure, Commentary on Ecclesiastes, Chapter 10; GK Chesterton, A Miscellany of Men, The Fool (1912); GK Chesterton, A Miscellany of Men, The Man on Top (1912); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Ecclesiastes; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.