For as the crackling of thorns under a pot, so is the laughter of the fool: this also is vanity.
Parallel translations
- WEB For as the crackling of thorns under a pot, so is the laughter of the fool. This also is vanity.
- BSB For like the crackling of thorns under the pot, so is the laughter of the fool. This too is futile.
- NKJV For like the crackling of thorns under a pot, So is the laughter of the fool. This also is vanity.
- NASB For as the crackling of thorn bushes under a pot, So is the laughter of the fool; And this too is futility.
- NLT A fool’s laughter is quickly gone, like thorns crackling in a fire. This also is meaningless.
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 laughter of fools is like crackling thorns under a pot: loud, brief, and empty. It matters because foolish mirth flares up and quickly burns out, accomplishing nothing.
Overview
The Preacher uses a vivid pun (in Hebrew, thorns and pot sound alike) to mock the fool's laughter: noisy and fleeting like burning brushwood. The image exposes the emptiness of shallow merriment, which he labels vanity. The verse commends substance over noise, directing the heart toward the lasting joy found in God rather than the crackle of fleeting amusement.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Ps 58:9Before your pots can feel the thorns, he shall take them away as with a whirlwind, both living, and in his wrath.
- Ps 118:12They compassed me about like bees; they are quenched as the fire of thorns: for in the name of the LORD I will destroy them.
- Eccl 2:2I said of laughter, It is mad: and of mirth, What doeth it?
- Luke 6:25Woe unto you that are full! for ye shall hunger. Woe unto you that laugh now! for ye shall mourn and weep.
- 2 Pet 2:13–17And shall receive the reward of unrighteousness, as they that count it pleasure to riot in the day time. Spots they are and blemishes, sporting themselves with their own deceivings while they feast with you;
- Prov 29:9If a wise man contendeth with a foolish man, whether he rage or laugh, there is no rest.
- Jude 1:12–13These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots;
- Amos 8:10And I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation; and I will bring up sackcloth upon all loins, and baldness upon every head; and I will make it as the mourning of an only son, and the end thereof as a bitter day.
- Luke 16:25But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented.
- Isa 65:13–15Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, my servants shall eat, but ye shall be hungry: behold, my servants shall drink, but ye shall be thirsty: behold, my servants shall rejoice, but ye shall be ashamed:
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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 7:6 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.