Ecclesiastes 10:8-14

Ecclesiastes 10:8-14
Christian Standard Bible
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​8 The one who digs a pit may fall into it,
and the one who breaks through a wall may be bitten by a snake.
9 The one who quarries stones may be hurt by them;
the one who splits logs may be endangered by them.
10 If the ax is dull, and one does not sharpen its edge,
then one must exert more strength;
however, the advantage of wisdom is that it brings success.
11 If the snake bites before it is charmed,
then there is no advantage for the charmer.
12 The words from the mouth of a wise person are gracious,
but the lips of a fool consume him.
13 The beginning of the words from his mouth is folly,
but the end of his speaking is evil madness;
14 yet the fool multiplies words.
No one knows what will happen,
and who can tell anyone what will happen after him?

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Continuing the passage from yesterday.  Do not try to "dig a pt" (set a trap for someone else) because you may be caught in the trap you have laid for someone else.  Also, don't be so quick to try to go through barriers that someone else has put up to try to protect you.  You may not understand why the barrier is there, but that doesn't mean that the rule or policy is dumb or should be abolished or ignored.

If you do risky work (like mining gems or harvesting lumber), you may get injured.  In such cases, do whatever you can to make things safer for yourself and make your job easier, even if it means spending some time "sharpening your axe" before cutting the tree.  People may scoff at you for not immediately starting to harvest lumber, but you'll do it with less effort if you are using a sharp axe.  Likewise, wisdom takes a while to learn but brings more success.

Like you don't handle a snake before it is charmed, don't step into volatile situations where the parties haven't had time to cool down (or at least know the risks if you say there isn't time for that).  Speak gracious words like a wise person.   Don't be like a fool whose words come back to bit him.  The fool's words go from simple foolishness to utter madness.  They speak many words, but all of them are meaningless.  No one can tell if what the fool speaks will come to pass or not.  Their words have no weight to them.