The fool folds his hands and consumes his own flesh.
Parallel translations
- WEB The fool folds his hands together and ruins himself.
- KJV The fool foldeth his hands together, and eateth his own flesh.
- NKJV The fool folds his hands And consumes his own flesh.
- NASB The fool folds his hands and consumes his own flesh.
- NLT “Fools fold their idle hands, leading them to ruin.”
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
The fool's laziness is self-destruction: by refusing to work he consumes his own resources and ruins himself. It matters because idleness is not rest but a path to loss.
Overview
In a passage weighing the futility of toil, the Preacher refuses to swing from overwork to sloth. Folding the hands is a biblical image of refusing labor (Proverbs 6:10), and the fool who does so 'eats his own flesh,' wasting away. Scripture commends honest diligence as part of God's good order (2 Thessalonians 3:10), a creation mandate fulfilled and dignified in Christ, who Himself worked.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- Isa 9:20They carve out what is on the right, but they are still hungry; they eat what is on the left, but they are still not satisfied. Each one devours the flesh of his own offspring.
- Prov 6:10–11A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest,
- Prov 13:4The slacker craves yet has nothing, but the soul of the diligent is fully satisfied.
- Job 13:14Why do I put myself at risk and take my life in my own hands?
- Prov 20:4The slacker does not plow in season; at harvest time he looks, but nothing is there.
- Prov 11:17A kind man benefits himself, but a cruel man brings trouble on himself.
- Prov 12:27A lazy man does not roast his game, but a diligent man prizes his possession.
- Prov 24:33–34A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest,
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 4:5 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.