When you work in a quarry, stones might fall and crush you. When you chop wood, there is danger with each stroke of your ax.
Parallel translations
- WEB Whoever carves out stones may be injured by them. Whoever splits wood may be endangered thereby.
- KJV Whoso removeth stones shall be hurt therewith; and he that cleaveth wood shall be endangered thereby.
- BSB The one who quarries stones may be injured by them, and he who splits logs endangers himself.
- NKJV He who quarries stones may be hurt by them, And he who splits wood may be endangered by it.
- NASB One who quarries stones may be hurt by them, and one who splits logs may be endangered by them.
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
Whoever quarries stones may be hurt by them, and one who splits wood may be endangered. Every labor carries its own hazards, so wisdom works with care.
Overview
These proverbs continue the theme that ordinary tasks involve real risk. The point is not to avoid work but to approach it with skill and caution. The following verse will draw out the value of wisdom and skill in meeting such dangers, reflecting the prudence Scripture commends in all our labor (Proverbs 22:3).
Cross-references & the web
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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 10:9 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.