Ecclesiastes 10:1

Dead flies cause the ointment of the apothecary to send forth a stinking savour: so doth a little folly him that is in reputation for wisdom and honour.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
Dead	מָ֔וֶת Ma.vet	H4194	death (natural or violent) · noun, common masculine singular absolute
flies	זְב֣וּבֵי ze.Vu.vei	H2070	a fly (especially one of a stinging nature) · noun, common masculine plural construct
ointment	שֶׁ֣מֶן She.men	H8081	grease · noun, common masculine singular construct
apothecary	רוֹקֵ֑חַ ro.Ke.ach	H7543	to perfume · verb, qal active participle, masculine singular absolute
forth	יַבִּ֖יעַ ya.Bi.a'	H5042	to gush forth · verb, hiphil imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
savour	יַבְאִ֥ישׁ yav.'Ish	H887	to smell bad · verb, hiphil imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
little	מְעָֽט me.'At	H4592	a little or few (often adverbial or compar.) · noun, common masculine singular absolute
folly	סִכְל֥וּת sikh.Lut	H5531	silliness · noun, common feminine singular construct
reputation	יָקָ֛ר ya.Kar	H3368	valuable (objectively or subjectively) · adjective, masculine singular absolute
wisdom	מֵחָכְמָ֥ה me.cha.khe.Mah	H2451	wisdom (in a good sense) · preposition + noun, common feminine singular absolute
honour	מִכָּב֖וֹד mi.ka.Vod	H3519	properly · preposition + noun, common masculine singular absolute

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

Matthew 5:13-16 Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to…
Galatians 2:12-14 For before that certain came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles: but when they were come, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing t…
Exodus 30:25 And thou shalt make it an oil of holy ointment, an ointment compound after the art of the apothecary: it shall be an holy anointing oil.
Nehemiah 13:26 Did not Solomon king of Israel sin by these things? yet among many nations was there no king like him, who was beloved of his God, and God m…
2 Chronicles 19:2 And Jehu the son of Hanani the seer went out to meet him, and said to king Jehoshaphat, Shouldest thou help the ungodly, and love them that…
Exodus 30:34-35 And the LORD said unto Moses, Take unto thee sweet spices, stacte, and onycha, and galbanum; these sweet spices with pure frankincense: of e…
Nehemiah 6:13 Therefore was he hired, that I should be afraid, and do so, and sin, and that they might have matter for an evil report, that they might rep…

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Ecclesiastes 10:1-3

In these verses Solomon shows, I. What great need wise men have to take heed of being guilty of any instance of folly; for a little folly is a great blemish to him that is in reputation for wisdom and honour, and is as hurtful to his good name as dead flies are to a sweet perfume, not only spoiling the sweetness of it, but making it to send forth a stinking savour. Note, 1. True wisdom is true honour, and will gain a man a reputation, which is like a box of precious ointment, pleasing and very valuable. 2. The reputation that is got with difficulty, and by a great deal of wisdom, may be easily lost, and by a little folly, because envy fastens upon eminency, and makes the worst of the mistake…

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John Gill on Ecclesiastes 10:1

Dead flies cause the ointment of the apothecary to send forth a stinking savour,.... Such, as Jarchi observes, are in the winter season, which are weak and near to death, and get into precious ointment, prepared after the best manner, where they die, and corrupt and spoil it: or, "flies of deaths" (m); deadly ones, which have something in their nature poisonous and pernicious; which, when they light upon the most sweet and savoury ointment, give it an ill smell; so doth a little folly him that is in reputation for wisdom and honour; a good name is like precious ointment, valuable and fragrant; sin, which is folly, is like a dead fly; not only light and mean, and base and worthless, but hurt…

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Keil & Delitzsch on Ecclesiastes 10:1

The second half of the foregoing double proverb introduces what now follows: "Poisonous flies make to stink, make to ferment the oil of the preparer of ointment; heavier than wisdom, than honour, weighs a little folly." We do not need to change מות זבוּבי, on account of the foll. sing. of the pred., either into זבוגי ם (as possible by Hitz.) or זב ימוּתי (Luzz.); both are inadmissible, for the style of Koheleth is not adorned with archaisms such as Chirek compaginis; and also such an attrib. clause as זבוב ימות, a fly which dies," is for him too refined; but both are also unnecessary, for a plur. of the subj., in which the plurality of the individuals comes less into view than the oneness of…

The Church Fathers

Indeed, it is said that Beelzebub means prince of flies; and it has been written of them, "Dying flies spoil the sweetness of the oil."
— Augustine of Hippo, TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 1:14.3

Moreover, flies falling into myrrh, and suffocated therein, make both the appearance of that pleasant ointment and the anointing therewith an unseemly thing; and to be mindful of wisdom and of folly together is in no way proper.
— Gregory of Neocaesarea, A Metaphrase of the Book of Ecclesiastes, Chapter X

These flies bring death as well as life. For example there is a divinized fly about which Elijah has said, "Is there no God in Israel that you are sending to inquire of the fly, the God of Ekron?" I would be astonished if they really did divinize a fly. Rather he hereby has described the worthlessness of their enterprise.
— Didymus the Blind, COMMENTARY ON ECCLESIASTES 291:3

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Apothecary — Rendered in the margin and the Revised Version “perfumer,” in Ex. 30:25; 37:29; Eccl. 10:1. The holy oils and ointments were prepared by priests properly qualified for this office. The feminine…
Fly — Heb. zebub, (Eccl. 10:1; Isa. 7:18). This fly was so grievous a pest that the Phoenicians invoked against it the aid of their god Baal-zebub (q.v.). The prophet Isaiah (7:18) alludes to some…
Fly, Flies — The two following Hebrew terms denote flies of some kind:
Handicraft — (Acts 18:3; 19:25; Revelation 18:22) A trade was taught to ail the Jewish boys as a necessary part of their education. Even the greatest rabbis maintained themselves by trades (Delitzsch). Says Rabbi…
Medicine — Egypt was the earliest home of medical and other skill for the region of the Mediterranean basin, and every Egyptian mummy of the more expensive and elaborate sort involved a process of anatomy.…
Anointing · Ointment for: Prepared by the apothecary — Ointment for: Prepared by the apothecary
Apothecary · Ointment of — Ointment of
Flies · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Gifts From God · .Prayer for — .Prayer for
Insects · Mentioned in scripture: Fly — Mentioned in scripture: Fly
Lightning · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Ointment · NOT SACRED — NOT SACRED

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Ecclesiastes 10:1-3

John Gill on Ecclesiastes 10:1

Keil & Delitzsch on Ecclesiastes 10:1

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Ecclesiastes 10:1-3

John Gill on Ecclesiastes 10:1

Keil & Delitzsch on Ecclesiastes 10:1

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Rashi on Ecclesiastes 10:1