The labour of the foolish wearieth every one of them, because he knoweth not how to go 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.
- BSB The toil of a fool wearies him, for he does not know the way 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 50:4–5In those days, and in that time, saith the LORD, the children of Israel shall come, they and the children of Judah together, going and weeping: they shall go, and seek the LORD their God.
- Isa 57:1The righteous perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart: and merciful men are taken away, none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come.
- Eccl 10:3Yea also, when he that is a fool walketh by the way, his wisdom faileth him, and he saith to every one that he is a fool.
- Ps 107:4They wandered in the wilderness in a solitary way; they found no city to dwell in.
- Isa 35:8–10And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for those: the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein.
- Ps 107:7And he led them forth by the right way, that they might go to a city of habitation.
- Isa 44:12–17The smith with the tongs both worketh in the coals, and fashioneth it with hammers, and worketh it with the strength of his arms: yea, he is hungry, and his strength faileth: he drinketh no water, and is faint.
- Eccl 10:10If the iron be blunt, and he do not whet the edge, then must he put to more strength: but wisdom is profitable to direct.
- Hab 2:6Shall not all these take up a parable against him, and a taunting proverb against him, and say, Woe to him that increaseth that which is not his! how long? and to him that ladeth himself with thick clay!
- Matt 11:28–30Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
- Isa 47:12–13Stand now with thine enchantments, and with the multitude of thy sorceries, wherein thou hast laboured from thy youth; if so be thou shalt be able to profit, if so be thou mayest prevail.
- Isa 55:2Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness.
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.