If the snake bites before it is charmed, there is no profit for the charmer.
Parallel translations
- WEB If the snake bites before it is charmed, then is there no profit for the charmer’s tongue.
- KJV Surely the serpent will bite without enchantment; and a babbler is no better.
- NKJV A serpent may bite when it is not charmed; The babbler is no different.
- NASB If the serpent bites before being charmed, there is no benefit for the charmer.
- NLT If a snake bites before you charm it, what’s the use of being a snake charmer?
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
If a snake bites before it is charmed, the charmer's skill is of no profit. Wisdom and skill must be applied in time to do any good.
Overview
Qoheleth notes that even a real ability is useless if not employed at the right moment. Timing and timely action are part of wisdom. The proverb warns against delay and missed opportunity, echoing the biblical urgency to act and speak wisely while there is still time (Ecclesiastes 3:1; Ephesians 5:15-16).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- Jer 8:17“For behold, I will send snakes among you, vipers that cannot be charmed, and they will bite you,” declares the LORD.
- Ps 58:4–5Their venom is like the venom of a snake, like a cobra that shuts its ears,
- Ps 64:3who sharpen their tongues like swords and aim their bitter words like arrows,
- Ps 52:2Your tongue devises destruction like a sharpened razor, O worker of deceit.
- Jas 3:6The tongue also is a fire, a world of wickedness among the parts of the body. It pollutes the whole person, sets the course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.
- Prov 18:21Life and death are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
The search that finds everything 'under the sun' to be vapor exposes the emptiness of life without God and drives us to the one who alone gives meaning, the resurrection that makes our labor not in vain.
How Ecclesiastes 10:11 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.