Do not pay attention to every word that is spoken, or you may hear your servant cursing you.
Parallel translations
- WEB Also don’t take heed to all words that are spoken, lest you hear your servant curse you;
- KJV Also take no heed unto all words that are spoken; lest thou hear thy servant curse thee:
- NKJV Also do not take to heart everything people say, Lest you hear your servant cursing you.
- NASB Also, do not take seriously all the words which are spoken, so that you do not hear your servant cursing you,
- NLT Don’t eavesdrop on others—you may hear your servant curse you.
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
Don't pay attention to every word people say, or you may hear your own servant curse you. It matters because over-scrutinizing others' words leads to needless pain.
Overview
The Preacher counsels wise discretion: not every overheard word deserves our attention. Hypersensitivity to criticism only wounds us. This practical wisdom commends a gracious, thick-skinned forbearance, in keeping with love that 'covers a multitude of sins' (1 Peter 4:8) and the patient charity Christ teaches toward others' failings.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 5
- Prov 30:10Do not slander a servant to his master, or he will curse you, and you will bear the guilt.
- Isa 29:21those who indict a man with a word, who ensnare the mediator at the gate, and who with false charges deprive the innocent of justice.
- 2 Sam 16:10But the king replied, “What have I to do with you, O sons of Zeruiah? If he curses me because the LORD told him, ‘Curse David,’ who can ask, ‘Why did you do this?’”
- 2 Sam 19:19and said, “My lord, do not hold me guilty, and do not remember your servant’s wrongdoing on the day my lord the king left Jerusalem. May the king not take it to heart.
- 1 Cor 13:5–7It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no account of wrongs.
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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 7:21 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
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