Skip to content

Passage Research

Ecclesiastes 10 — Sermon Preparation

Below is a research summary for Ecclesiastes 10, drawn from openly licensed scholarly databases — original-language morphology, classic sermons from the church fathers through the Puritans, and ancient geography data.

20
verses
196 / 138
Hebrew words / lemmas
4
classic sermon excerpts
3
preachers & commentators

Ecclesiastes 10 in the Hebrew

Distinctive vocabulary of this chapter, based on original-language morphology.

Hebrew Transliteration Strong's Count Glosses
סָכָל çâkâl H5530 3 silly
כְּסִיל kᵉçîyl H3684 3 fat, stupid
קָלַל qâlal H7043 3 be, make
סִכְלוּת çiklûwth H5531 2 silliness
דָּבָר dâbâr H1697 4 word, matter
יִתְרוֹן yithrôwn H3504 2 preeminence, gain
נָשַׁךְ nâshak H5391 2 strike, oppress

How preachers through history handled this text

4 public-domain excerpts on Ecclesiastes 10, from the church fathers to the Puritans.

Alexander MacLaren 2 Matthew Henry 1 John Wesley 1

“THE WAY TO THE CITY The labour of the foolish wearieth every one of them, because he knoweth not how to go to the city.'--ECCLES. x. 15. On the surface this seems to be merely a piece of homely, practical sagacity, conjoined with one of the bitter things which Ecclesiastes is fond of saying about those whom he calls fools.' It seems to repeat, under another metaphor, the same idea which has been presented in a previous verse, where we read: If the iron be blunt, and he do not whet the edge, then must he put to more strength; …”

— Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of the Holy Scriptures: Second Kings from Chap., on Ecclesiastes 10:15–30 (Public Domain)

Need the complete sermon prep report on this passage?

Greek exegesis, historical background, current scholarship, sermon outlines, illustrations — a complete PDF report on Ecclesiastes 10, delivered in 45 minutes.