Dead flies cause the oil of the perfumer {Or, to stink and putrefy}to send forth an evil odor; so doth a little folly {Or, him that is valued for wisdom}outweigh wisdom and honor.
A wise man's heart is at his right hand; but a fool's heart at his left.
Yea also, when the fool walketh by the way, his {Hebrew: heart.}understanding faileth him, and he saith {Or, of}to every one that he is a fool.
If the spirit of the ruler rise up against thee, leave not thy place; for {Or, calmness leaveth great sins undone}gentleness allayeth great offences.
There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, as it were an error which proceedeth from the ruler:
folly is set in great {Hebrew: heights.}dignity, and the rich sit in a low place.
I have seen servants upon horses, and princes walking like servants upon the earth.
He that diggeth a pit shall fall into it; and whoso breaketh through a wall, a serpent shall bite him.
Whoso {Or, moveth stones}heweth out stones shall be hurt therewith; and he that cleaveth wood is endangered thereby.
If the iron be blunt, and one do not whet the edge, then must he put to more strength: but wisdom is profitable to direct.
{Or, Surely the serpent will bite where there is no enchantment; and the slanderer is no better}If the serpent bite {Hebrew: without enchantment.}before it is charmed, then is there no advantage in {Hebrew: the master of the tongue.}the charmer.
The words of a wise man's mouth are gracious; but the lips of a fool will swallow up himself.
The beginning of the words of his mouth is foolishness; and the end of {Hebrew: his mouth.}his talk is mischievous madness.
A fool also multiplieth words: yet man knoweth not what shall be; and that which shall be after him, who can tell him?
The labor of fools wearieth every one of them; for he knoweth not how to go to the city.
Woe to thee, O land, when thy king is a {Or, servant}child, and thy princes eat in the morning!
Happy art thou, O land, when thy king is {Or, a free man}the son of nobles, and thy princes eat in due season, for strength, and not for drunkenness!
By slothfulness the {Or, rafters sink}roof sinketh in; and through idleness of the hands the house leaketh.
A feast is made for laughter, and wine maketh glad the life; and money answereth all things.
Revile not the king, no, not in thy thought; and revile not the rich in thy bedchamber: for a bird of the heavens shall carry the voice, and that which hath wings shall tell the matter.
Querverweise zu Prediger 10,16 Pred 10,16
And there were gathered unto him worthless men, base fellows, that strengthened themselves against Rehoboam the son of Solomon, when Rehoboam was young and tender-hearted, and could not withstand them.
Wine is a mocker, strong drink a brawler;And whosoever {Or, reeleth}erreth thereby is not wise.
O house of David, thus saith Jehovah, Execute justice in the morning, and deliver him that is robbed out of the hand of the oppressor, lest my wrath go forth like fire, and burn so that none can quench it, because of the evil of {Another reading is, their.}your doings.
Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign; and he reigned fifty and five years in Jerusalem.
And he did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah, after the abominations of the nations whom Jehovah cast out before the children of Israel.
For he built again the high places which Hezekiah his father had broken down; and he reared up altars for the Baalim, and made Asheroth, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served them.
And he built altars in the house of Jehovah, whereof Jehovah said, In Jerusalem shall my name be for ever.
And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of Jehovah.
He also made his children to pass through the fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom; and he practised augury, and used enchantments, and practised sorcery, and dealt with them that had familiar spirits, and with wizards: he wrought much evil in the sight of Jehovah, to provoke him to anger.
And he set the graven image of the idol, which he had made, in the house of God, of which God said to David and to Solomon his son, In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, will I put my name for ever:
neither will I any more remove the foot of Israel from off the land which I have appointed for your fathers, if only they will observe to do all that I have commanded them, even all the law and the statutes and the ordinances given by Moses.
And Manasseh seduced Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that they did evil more than did the nations whom Jehovah destroyed before the children of Israel.
And Jehovah spake to Manasseh, and to his people; but they gave no heed.
Wherefore Jehovah brought upon them the captains of the host of the king of Assyria, who took Manasseh {Or, with hooks}in chains, and bound him with fetters, and carried him to Babylon.
And when he was in distress, he besought Jehovah his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers.
And he prayed unto him; and he was entreated of him, and heard his supplication, and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that Jehovah he was God.
Now after this he built an outer wall to the city of David, on the west side of Gihon, in the valley, even to the entrance at the fish gate; and he compassed Ophel about with it, and raised it up to a very great height: and he put {Or, captains of the army}valiant captains in all the fortified cities of Judah.
And he took away the foreign gods, and the idol out of the house of Jehovah, and all the altars that he had built in the mount of the house of Jehovah, and in Jerusalem, and cast them out of the city.
And he {According to another reading, prepared.}built up the altar of Jehovah, and offered thereon sacrifices of peace-offerings and of thanksgiving, and commanded Judah to serve Jehovah, the God of Israel.
Nevertheless the people sacrificed still in the high places, but only unto Jehovah their God.
Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh, and his prayer unto his God, and the words of the seers that spake to him in the name of Jehovah, the God of Israel, behold, they are written among the acts of the kings of Israel.
His prayer also, and how God was entreated of him, and all his sin and his trespass, and the places wherein he built high places, and set up the Asherim and the graven images, before he humbled himself: behold, they are written in the history of {Or, the seers}Hozai.
So Manasseh slept with his fathers, and they buried him in his own house: and Amon his son reigned in his stead.
The terror of a king is as the roaring of a lion:He that {Or, angereth himself against him}provoketh him to anger sinneth against his own {Hebrew: soul.}life.
Joahaz was twenty and three years old when he began to reign; and he reigned three months in Jerusalem.
Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink; that tarry late into the night, till wine inflame them!
Jehoiakim was twenty and five years old when he began to reign; and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem: and he did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah his God.
And the harp and the lute, the tabret and the pipe, and wine, are in their feasts; but they regard not the work of Jehovah, neither have they considered the operation of his hands.
Jehoiachin was {In 2 Kings 24:8, eighteen.}eight years old when he began to reign; and he reigned three months and ten days in Jerusalem: and he did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah.
And even these reel with wine, and stagger with strong drink; the priest and the prophet reel with strong drink, they are swallowed up of wine, they stagger with strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble in judgment.
Zedekiah was twenty and one years old when he began to reign; and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem:
For all tables are full of vomit and filthiness, so that there is no place clean.
And I will give children to be their princes, and {Or, with childishness shall they rule over them}babes shall rule over them.
On the day of our king the princes made {Or, him}themselves sick with the heat of wine; he stretched out his hand with scoffers.
For they have {Hebrew: brought near.}made ready their heart like an oven, while they lie in wait: their baker sleepeth all the night; in the morning it burneth as a flaming fire.
They are all hot as an oven, and devour their judges; all their kings are fallen: there is none among them that calleth unto me.
And the people shall be oppressed, every one by another, and every one by his neighbor: the child shall behave himself proudly against the old man, and the base against the honorable.
As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, they that lead thee cause thee to err, and {Hebrew: swallow up.}destroy the way of thy paths.