Folly is appointed to great heights, but the rich sit in lowly positions.
Parallel translations
- WEB Folly is set in great dignity, and the rich sit in a low place.
- KJV Folly is set in great dignity, and the rich sit in low place.
- NKJV Folly is set in great dignity, While the rich sit in a lowly place.
- NASB foolishness is set in many exalted places while the rich sit in humble places.
- NLT when they give great authority to foolish people and low positions to people of proven worth.
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
Folly is exalted to high positions while the worthy and rich sit in low places. Misrule inverts proper order, elevating the unfit.
Overview
Qoheleth illustrates the ruler's error: foolish or unqualified people are given great dignity while others are demoted. This upending of merit produces injustice and dysfunction. It reflects the disordered world under sin and stirs hope for the day when God exalts the humble and orders all things rightly (Psalm 113:7-8; Luke 1:52).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- Prov 28:12When the righteous triumph, there is great glory, but when the wicked rise, men hide themselves.
- Prov 29:2When the righteous flourish, the people rejoice, but when the wicked rule, the people groan.
- Esth 3:1After these events, King Xerxes honored Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, elevating him to a position above all the princes who were with him.
- Ps 12:8The wicked wander freely, and vileness is exalted among men.
- Judg 9:14–20Finally all the trees said to the thornbush, ‘Come and reign over us.’
- Prov 28:28When the wicked come to power, people hide themselves; but when they perish, the righteous flourish.
- 1 Kgs 12:13–14And the king answered the people harshly. He rejected the advice of the elders
- Jas 2:3–5If you lavish attention on the man in fine clothes and say, “Here is a seat of honor,” but say to the poor man, “You must stand” or “Sit at my feet,”
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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 10:6 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.