Also take no heed unto all words that are spoken; lest thou hear thy servant curse thee:
Parallel translations
- WEB Also don’t take heed to all words that are spoken, lest you hear your servant curse you;
- BSB Do not pay attention to every word that is spoken, or you may hear your servant cursing you.
- 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 30:10Accuse not a servant unto his master, lest he curse thee, and thou be found guilty.
- Isa 29:21That make a man an offender for a word, and lay a snare for him that reproveth in the gate, and turn aside the just for a thing of nought.
- 2 Sam 16:10And the king said, What have I to do with you, ye sons of Zeruiah? so let him curse, because the LORD hath said unto him, Curse David. Who shall then say, Wherefore hast thou done so?
- 2 Sam 19:19And said unto the king, Let not my lord impute iniquity unto me, neither do thou remember that which thy servant did perversely the day that my lord the king went out of Jerusalem, that the king should take it to his heart.
- 1 Cor 13:5–7Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;
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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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