What Does Ecclesiastes 10:1 Mean in the King James?
Dead flies cause the ointment of the apothecary to send forth a stinking savour: so doth a little folly him that is in reputation for wisdom and honour.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The fly is tiny; what it changes is the fragrance of the whole.
THE MEANING
A small piece of folly can foul what is otherwise composed of wisdom and honor. The verse speaks now to a life carrying both: one lapse can change the scent others encounter.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A small lapse cannot matter when the rest of your life is wise and honorable.
THE ROOT
כָּבוֹד
kavod
GROWS FROM
כבד
k-b-d
To be heavy or weighty.
“honour” in this verse is kavod. Kavod means honor, but its root carries the image of weight. Beside “a little folly,” it adds a sense of substance: what is weighty and valued can still be fouled by something small.
ALSO GROWS
kaved: Heavy or weighty.
כָּבֵד
The physical sense of weight underlies the honor carried by kavod.
kavod: Weight, honor, or glory.
כָּבוֹד
This is the verse’s word for honor, with the root’s image of weight still present.
סִכְלוּת
sikhlut
GROWS FROM
סכל
s-k-l
To act foolishly or be senseless.
The word for folly belongs to the same root that describes a fool and the act of behaving foolishly. It names folly as something enacted, so the verse’s “little” can be a small act with an outsized effect.
ALSO GROWS
sakal: A fool or senseless person.
סָכָל
The shared root connects the folly in the verse with the person characterized by it.
hiskil: Acted foolishly.
הִסְכִּיל
This verb shows folly as an action that can enter and alter what is otherwise wise.
יַבְאִישׁ
yav'ish
GROWS FROM
באש
b-ʾ-sh
To stink or give off a foul odor.
“stinking” in this verse is yav'ish. The verb is causative: the flies do not merely smell foul; they make the ointment itself give off a foul odor. In the image, a small intruder changes the quality others encounter in what was fragrant.
ALSO GROWS
ba'ash: To stink or become foul.
בָּאַשׁ
This is the basic odor the flies introduce into the ointment.
hiv'ish: To cause something to stink.
הִבְאִישׁ
The causative form captures how the flies alter the ointment itself.
THE PATTERN
A small element can spread its effect through a larger whole.
Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes.Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth!THE THREAD
Wherefore the LORD God of Israel saith, I said indeed that thy house, and the house of thy father, should walk before me for ever: but now the LORD saith, Be it far from me; for them that honour me I will honour, and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed.The Hebrew word for “honour” here shares the root כבד with Ecclesiastes’ כָּבוֹד, whose root carries the sense of weight. This verse sets that root beside “lightly esteemed,” making the contrast between weight and lightness explicit.
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