The toil of a fool wearies him, for he does not know the way to the city.
Parallel translations
- WEB The labor of fools wearies every one of them; for he doesn’t know how to go to the city.
- KJV The labour of the foolish wearieth every one of them, because he knoweth not how to go to the city.
- NKJV The labor of fools wearies them, For they do not even know how to go to the city!
- NASB The labor of a fool makes him so weary that he does not even know how to go to a city.
- NLT Fools are so exhausted by a little work that they can’t even find their way home.
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's labor wearies him, for he does not even know the way to the city. Folly makes simple tasks exhausting and ineffective.
Overview
Qoheleth pictures the fool worn out by toil yet unable to manage even basic matters like finding his way. Folly squanders effort through lack of understanding. The verse highlights how wisdom, by contrast, brings clarity and direction to life, a wisdom found fully in the One who is the way (Proverbs 14:8; John 14:6).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Jer 50:4–5“In those days and at that time, declares the LORD, the children of Israel and the children of Judah will come together, weeping as they come, and will seek the LORD their God.
- Isa 57:1The righteous perish, and no one takes it to heart; devout men are swept away, while no one considers that the righteous are guided from the presence of evil.
- Eccl 10:3Even as the fool walks along the road, his sense is lacking, and he shows everyone that he is a fool.
- Ps 107:4Some wandered in desert wastelands, finding no path to a city in which to dwell.
- Isa 35:8–10And there will be a highway called the Way of Holiness. The unclean will not travel it—only those who walk in the Way—and fools will not stray onto it.
- Ps 107:7He led them on a straight path to reach a city where they could live.
- Isa 44:12–17The blacksmith takes a tool and labors over the coals; he fashions an idol with hammers and forges it with his strong arms. Yet he grows hungry and loses his strength; he fails to drink water and grows faint.
- Eccl 10:10If the axe is dull and the blade unsharpened, more strength must be exerted, but skill produces success.
- Hab 2:6Will not all of these take up a taunt against him, speaking with mockery and derision: ‘Woe to him who amasses what is not his and makes himself rich with many loans! How long will this go on?’
- Matt 11:28–30Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
- Isa 47:12–13So take your stand with your spells and with your many sorceries, with which you have wearied yourself from your youth. Perhaps you will succeed; perhaps you will inspire terror!
- Isa 55:2Why spend money on that which is not bread, and your labor on that which does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of foods.
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 10:15 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.