When you dig a well, you might fall in. When you demolish an old wall, you could be bitten by a snake.
Parallel translations
- WEB He who digs a pit may fall into it; and whoever breaks through a wall may be bitten by a snake.
- KJV He that diggeth a pit shall fall into it; and whoso breaketh an hedge, a serpent shall bite him.
- BSB He who digs a pit may fall into it, and he who breaches a wall may be bitten by a snake.
- NKJV He who digs a pit will fall into it, And whoever breaks through a wall will be bitten by a serpent.
- NASB One who digs a pit may fall into it, and a serpent may bite one who breaks through a wall.
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
He who digs a pit may fall into it, and one who breaks a wall may be bitten by a snake. Ordinary actions carry hidden risks, calling for caution.
Overview
Qoheleth offers proverbs noting that even routine work has unforeseen dangers. Some read these as warnings that schemes against others can rebound on the schemer. Either way, they teach humble prudence in a world we cannot fully control, trusting God amid life's uncertainties (Proverbs 26:27; Psalm 7:15).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Prov 26:27Whoever digs a pit shall fall into it. Whoever rolls a stone, it will come back on him.
- Ps 7:15–16He has dug a hole, and has fallen into the pit which he made.
- Amos 5:19As if a man fled from a lion, and a bear met him; Or he went into the house and leaned his hand on the wall, and a snake bit him.
- Esth 7:10So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then was the king’s wrath pacified.
- 2 Sam 17:23When Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not followed, he saddled his donkey, arose, and went home, to his city, and set his house in order, and hanged himself; and he died, and was buried in the tomb of his father.
- Amos 9:3Though they hide themselves in the top of Carmel, I will search and take them out there; and though they be hidden from my sight in the bottom of the sea, there I will command the serpent, and it will bite them.
- Ps 9:15–16The nations have sunk down in the pit that they made. In the net which they hid, their own foot is taken.
- Judg 9:53–57A certain woman cast an upper millstone on Abimelech’s head, and broke his skull.
- Judg 9:5He went to his father’s house at Ophrah, and killed his brothers the sons of Jerubbaal, being seventy persons, on one stone: but Jotham the youngest son of Jerubbaal was left; for he hid himself.
- 2 Sam 18:15Ten young men who bore Joab’s armor surrounded and struck Absalom, and killed him.
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 10:8 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.