Folly is set in great dignity, While the rich sit in a lowly place.
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.
- BSB Folly is appointed to great heights, but the rich sit in lowly positions.
- 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 thrive, the people rejoice; but when the wicked rule, the people groan.
- Esth 3:1After these things King Ahasuerus promoted Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, and advanced him, and set his seat above all the princes who were with him.
- Ps 12:8The wicked walk on every side, when what is vile is exalted among the sons of men.
- Judg 9:14–20“Then all the trees said to the bramble, ‘Come and reign over us.’
- Prov 28:28When the wicked rise, men hide themselves; but when they perish, the righteous thrive.
- 1 Kgs 12:13–14The king answered the people roughly, and abandoned the counsel of the old men which they had given him,
- Jas 2:3–5and you pay special attention to him who wears the fine clothing, and say, “Sit here in a good place”; and you tell the poor man, “Stand there,” or “Sit by my footstool”;
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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.