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⁸He that diggeth a pit shall fall into it;

And whoso breaketh through a fence, a serpent shall bite him.

⁹Whoso quarrieth stones shall be hurt therewith;

And he that cleaveth wood is endangered thereby.

¹⁰If the iron be blunt,

And one do not whet the edge,

Then must he put to more strength;

But wisdom is profitable to direct.

¹¹If the serpent bite before it is charmed,

Then the charmer hath no advantage.

 

¹²The words of a wise man's mouth are gracious;

But the lips of a fool will swallow up himself.

¹³The beginning of the words of his mouth is foolishness;

And the end of his talk is grievous madness.

¹⁴A fool also multiplieth words;

Yet man knoweth not what shall be;

And that which shall be after him,

Who can tell him?

¹⁵The labour of fools wearieth every one of them,

For he knoweth not how to go to the city.

 

¹⁶Woe to thee, O land, when thy king is a boy,

And thy princes feast in the morning!

¹⁷Happy art thou, O land, when thy king is a free man,

And thy princes eat in due season,

In strength, and not in drunkenness!

 

¹⁸By slothfulness the rafters sink in;

And through idleness of the hands the house leaketh.

 

¹⁹A feast is made for laughter,

And wine maketh glad the life;

And money answereth all things.

 

²⁰Curse not the king, no, not in thy thought,

And curse not the rich in thy bed-chamber;

For a bird of the air shall carry the voice,

And that which hath wings shall tell the matter.

 

11 Cast thy bread upon the waters,

For thou shalt find it after many days.

²Divide a portion into seven, yea, even into eight;

For thou knowest not what evil shall be upon the earth.

³If the clouds be full of rain,

They empty themselves upon the earth;

And if a tree fall in the south, or in the north,

In the place where the tree falleth, there shall it be.

⁴He that observeth the wind shall not sow;

And he that regardeth the clouds shall not reap.

⁵As thou knowest not what is the way of the wind,

Nor how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with child;

Even so thou knowest not the work of God

Who doeth all things.

⁶In the morning sow thy seed,

And in the evening withhold not thy hand;

For thou knowest not which shall prosper, whether this or that,

Or whether they both shall be alike good.

⁷And the light is sweet,

And a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold the sun.

⁸For if a man live many years,

Let him rejoice in them all,

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