Ecclesiastes 10:7-17

⁷I have seen servants on horses, and rulers walking on the earth as servants.

⁸He who makes a hole for others will himself go into it, and for him who makes a hole through a wall the bite of a snake will be a punishment.

⁹He who gets out stones from the earth will be damaged by them, and in the cutting of wood there is danger.

¹⁰If the iron has no edge, and he does not make it sharp, then he has to put out more strength; but wisdom makes things go well.

¹¹If a snake gives a bite before the word of power is said, then there is no longer any use in the word of power.

¹²The words of a wise man's mouth are sweet to all, but the lips of a foolish man are his destruction.

¹³The first words of his mouth are foolish, and the end of his talk is evil crime.

¹⁴The foolish are full of words; man has no knowledge of what will be; and who is able to say what will be after him?

¹⁵The work of the foolish will be a weariness to him, because he has no knowledge of the way to the town.

¹⁶Unhappy is the land whose king is a boy, and whose rulers are feasting in the morning.

¹⁷Happy is the land whose ruler is of noble birth, and whose chiefs take food at the right time, for strength and not for feasting.