What Does Ecclesiastes 10:2 Mean in the King James?

A wise man’s heart is at his right hand; but a fool’s heart at his left.

Ecclesiastes 10:2 · KJV

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

Wisdom is not only what the heart contains; it is the direction the heart takes.

THE MEANING

Your heart is the inner center from which you think and choose, and this verse gives that center a direction. Wisdom and folly show themselves in where the whole inward person is oriented.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

The verse undoes the belief that wisdom is simply having more information: here, the heart’s direction distinguishes wisdom from folly.

THE ROOT

לֵב

lev

GROWS FROM

ל־ב־ב

l-b-b

The heart as the inner center of thought, desire, and choice.

English “heart” can sound like emotion alone, but ⁨לֵב⁩ (lev, “heart/inner self”) also names thought and intention. By placing the heart at the right or left, the verse pictures wisdom as a direction of the whole inward person.

ALSO GROWS

levav: Heart; the whole inner self.

לֵבָב

Deuteronomy 6:5 uses this form for the whole inward self directed in love, showing that the heart can stand for a person’s center of orientation.

belev: In the heart; in the midst or center.

בְּלֵב

The word can name a center as well as the inner self, making the heart’s placement in this verse a picture of the direction from which a person acts.

THE PATTERN

Scripture portrays the heart as taking its direction from what it loves, values, and trusts.

And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.

Deuteronomy 6:5 · KJVThe whole heart is directed toward love of the LORD, making inward orientation the center of devotion.

For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

Matthew 6:21 · KJVThe heart follows what it values, revealing its direction through the place where it settles.

Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.

Proverbs 3:5 · KJVTrust is placed with the whole heart, showing its direction through what it leans on.

THE THREAD

Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.

Proverbs 3:5 · KJV

Both verses use the heart-root ⁨ל־ב־ב⁩ (l-b-b, “heart/inner self”). Ecclesiastes pictures the inner self placed toward one side or the other; Proverbs shows what that orientation rests on: what the heart trusts and leans toward.

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