Dead flies putrefy the perfumer’s ointment, And cause it to give off a foul odor; So does a little folly to one respected for wisdom and honor.
Parallel translations
- WEB Dead flies cause the oil of the perfumer to produce an evil odor; so does a little folly outweigh wisdom and honor.
- KJV Dead flies cause the ointment of the apothecary to send forth a stinking savour: so doth a little folly him that is in reputation for wisdom and honour.
- BSB As dead flies bring a stench to the perfumer’s oil, so a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor.
- NASB Dead flies turn a perfumer’s oil rancid, so a little foolishness is more potent than wisdom and honor.
- NLT As dead flies cause even a bottle of perfume to stink, so a little foolishness spoils great wisdom and honor.
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
As dead flies spoil the perfumer's ointment, so a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor. Small foolishness can corrupt a reputation built on much wisdom.
Overview
This proverb warns that minor folly can have outsized destructive effects, tainting a person's standing as decay spoils fragrant oil. It urges vigilance against small compromises. The principle echoes the biblical caution that a little leaven works through the whole lump, calling believers to integrity in small things as well as great (1 Corinthians 5:6; Song of Solomon 2:15).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- Matt 5:13–16“You are the salt of the earth, but if the salt has lost its flavor, with what will it be salted? It is then good for nothing, but to be cast out and trodden under the feet of men.
- Gal 2:12–14For before some people came from James, he ate with the Gentiles. But when they came, he drew back and separated himself, fearing those who were of the circumcision.
- Exod 30:25You shall make it a holy anointing oil, a perfume compounded after the art of the perfumer: it shall be a holy anointing oil.
- Neh 13:26Didn’t Solomon king of Israel sin by these things? Yet among many nations was there no king like him, and he was beloved of his God, and God made him king over all Israel. Nevertheless foreign women caused even him to sin.
- 2 Chr 19:2Jehu the son of Hanani the seer went out to meet him, and said to king Jehoshaphat, “Should you help the wicked, and love those who hate Yahweh? Because of this, wrath is on you from before Yahweh.
- Exod 30:34–35Yahweh said to Moses, “Take to yourself sweet spices, gum resin, and onycha, and galbanum; sweet spices with pure frankincense: there shall be an equal weight of each;
- Neh 6:13He hired so that I would be afraid, do so, and sin, and that they might have material for an evil report, that they might reproach me.
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 10:1 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.