Yet the fool multiplies words. No one knows what is coming, and who can tell him what will come after him?
Parallel translations
- WEB A fool also multiplies words. Man doesn’t know what will be; and that which will be after him, who can tell him?
- KJV A fool also is full of words: a man cannot tell what shall be; and what shall be after him, who can tell him?
- NKJV A fool also multiplies words. No man knows what is to be; Who can tell him what will be after him?
- NASB Yet the fool multiplies words. No person knows what will happen, and who can tell him what will come after him?
- NLT they chatter on and on. No one really knows what is going to happen; no one can predict the future.
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
The fool multiplies words, though no one knows the future or what will come after. Empty talk about things beyond our knowledge marks foolishness.
Overview
Qoheleth observes that fools pile up words while remaining ignorant of the future, which no one can foretell. This combines two themes: foolish loquacity and human ignorance of what is to come. It humbles our presumption and points to dependence on God who alone knows the future, warning against the empty speech the wise avoid (Proverbs 10:19; James 4:14).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Prov 15:2The tongue of the wise commends knowledge, but the mouth of the fool spouts folly.
- Jas 4:13–14Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business, and make a profit.”
- Eccl 5:3As a dream comes through many cares, so the speech of a fool comes with many words.
- Eccl 6:12For who knows what is good for a man during the few days in which he passes through his fleeting life like a shadow? Who can tell a man what will come after him under the sun?
- Eccl 3:22I have seen that there is nothing better for a man than to enjoy his work, because that is his lot. For who can bring him to see what will come after him?
- Eccl 8:7Since no one knows what will happen, who can tell him what is to come?
- Prov 10:19When words are many, sin is unavoidable, but he who restrains his lips is wise.
- Job 35:16So Job opens his mouth in vain and multiplies words without knowledge.”
- Job 34:37For he adds rebellion to his sin; he claps his hands among us and multiplies his words against God.”
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 10:14 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.