If the snake bites before it is charmed, then is there no profit for the charmer’s tongue.
Parallel translations
- KJV Surely the serpent will bite without enchantment; and a babbler is no better.
- BSB If the snake bites before it is charmed, there is no profit for the charmer.
- 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 serpents, adders among you, which will not be charmed; and they shall bite you,” says Yahweh.
- Ps 58:4–5Their poison is like the poison of a snake; like a deaf cobra that stops its ear,
- Ps 64:3who sharpen their tongue like a sword, and aim their arrows, deadly words,
- Ps 52:2Your tongue plots destruction, like a sharp razor, working deceitfully.
- Jas 3:6And the tongue is a fire. The world of iniquity among our members is the tongue, which defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature, and is set on fire by Gehenna.
- Prov 18:21Death and life are in the power of the tongue; 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.