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Passage Research

Ecclesiastes 10 — Sermon Preparation

A little folly can ruin great wisdom, and a string of proverbs observes how rulers, words, and laziness shape the course of daily life. 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.

HebrewTransliterationStrong'sCountGlosses
סָכָלçâkâlH55303silly
כְּסִילkᵉçîylH36843fat, stupid
קָלַלqâlalH70433be, make
סִכְלוּתçiklûwthH55312silliness
דָּבָרdâbârH16974word, matter
יִתְרוֹןyithrôwnH35042preeminence, gain
נָשַׁךְnâshakH53912strike, oppress

How preachers through history handled this text

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

Alexander MacLaren2Matthew Henry1John Wesley1

“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)

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