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Selected Verse: Ecclesiates 10:3 - King James

Verse	Translation	Text
Ec 10:3	King James	Yea also, when he that is a fool walketh by the way, his wisdom faileth him, and he saith to every one that he is a fool.

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A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882]
by the way--in his ordinary course; in his simplest acts (Pro 6:12-14). That he "saith," virtually, "that he" himself, &c. [Septuagint]. But Vulgate, "He thinks that every one (else whom he meets) is a fool."

A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882]

by the way--in his ordinary course; in his simplest acts (Pro 6:12-14). That he "saith," virtually, "that he" himself, &c. [Septuagint]. But Vulgate, "He thinks that every one (else whom he meets) is a fool."

Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834]
"Way" may be understood either literally (compare Ecc 10:15), or figuratively, of the course of action which he follows. He saith ... - He exposes his folly to every one he meets.

Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78]
This proverb forms, along with the preceding, a tetrastich, for it is divided into two parts by vav. The Kerı̂ has removed the art. in כש and שה, Ecc 6:10, as incompatible with the ש. The order of the words vegam-baderek keshehsachal holek is inverted for vegam keshehsachal baderek holek, cf. Ecc 3:13, and also rav shěyihyn, Ecc 6:3; so far as this signifies, "supposing that they are many." Plainly the author intends to give prominence to "on the way;" and why, but because the fool, the inclination of whose heart, according to 2b, always goes to the left, is now placed in view as he presents himself in his public manner of life. Instead of לב־הוּא חסר we have here the verbal clause חסר לבּו, which is not, after Ecc 6:2, to be translated: corde suo caret (Herzf., Ginsb.), contrary to the suff. and also the order of the words, but, after Ecc 9:8 : cor ejus deficit, i.e., his understanding is at fault; for לב, here and at Ecc 10:2, is thus used in a double sense, as the Greek νοῦς and the Lat. mens can also be used: there it means pure, formal, intellectual soul-life; here, pregnantly (Psychol. p. 249), as at Ecc 7:7, cf. Hos 4:11, the understanding or the knowledge and will of what is right. The fool takes no step without showing that his understanding is not there, - that, so to speak, he does not take it along with him, but has left it at home. He even carries his folly about publicly, and prides himself in it as if it were wisdom: he says to all that he is a fool, se esse stultum (thus, correctly, most Jewish and Christian interpreters, e.g., Rashi and Rambach). The expression follows the scheme of Ps. 9:21: May the heathen know mortales se esse (vid., l.c.). Otherwise Luther, with Symm. and Jerome: "he takes every man as a fool;" but this thought has no support in the connection, and would undoubtedly be expressed by המּה סכלים. Still differently Knobel and Ewald: he says to all, "it is foolish;" Hitzig, on the contrary, justly remarks that סכל is not used of actions and things; this also is true of כּסיל, against himself, Ecc 5:2, where he translates qol kesil by "foolish discourses."

Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78]

This proverb forms, along with the preceding, a tetrastich, for it is divided into two parts by vav. The Kerı̂ has removed the art. in כש and שה, Ecc 6:10, as incompatible with the ש. The order of the words vegam-baderek keshehsachal holek is inverted for vegam keshehsachal baderek holek, cf. Ecc 3:13, and also rav shěyihyn, Ecc 6:3; so far as this signifies, "supposing that they are many." Plainly the author intends to give prominence to "on the way;" and why, but because the fool, the inclination of whose heart, according to 2b, always goes to the left, is now placed in view as he presents himself in his public manner of life. Instead of לב־הוּא חסר we have here the verbal clause חסר לבּו, which is not, after Ecc 6:2, to be translated: corde suo caret (Herzf., Ginsb.), contrary to the suff. and also the order of the words, but, after Ecc 9:8 : cor ejus deficit, i.e., his understanding is at fault; for לב, here and at Ecc 10:2, is thus used in a double sense, as the Greek νοῦς and the Lat. mens can also be used: there it means pure, formal, intellectual soul-life; here, pregnantly (Psychol. p. 249), as at Ecc 7:7, cf. Hos 4:11, the understanding or the knowledge and will of what is right. The fool takes no step without showing that his understanding is not there, - that, so to speak, he does not take it along with him, but has left it at home. He even carries his folly about publicly, and prides himself in it as if it were wisdom: he says to all that he is a fool, se esse stultum (thus, correctly, most Jewish and Christian interpreters, e.g., Rashi and Rambach). The expression follows the scheme of Ps. 9:21: May the heathen know mortales se esse (vid., l.c.). Otherwise Luther, with Symm. and Jerome: "he takes every man as a fool;" but this thought has no support in the connection, and would undoubtedly be expressed by המּה סכלים. Still differently Knobel and Ewald: he says to all, "it is foolish;" Hitzig, on the contrary, justly remarks that סכל is not used of actions and things; this also is true of כּסיל, against himself, Ecc 5:2, where he translates qol kesil by "foolish discourses."

Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65]
Walketh - In his daily conversation. He saith - He discovers his folly to all that meet him.

Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826
When - a fool walketh by the way - In every act of life, and in every company he frequents, the irreligious man shows what he is. Vanity, nonsense, and wickedness are his themes: so that in effect he saith to every one that he is a fool.

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¹² A naughty person, a wicked man, walketh with a froward mouth.
¹³ He winketh with his eyes, he speaketh with his feet, he teacheth with his fingers;
¹⁴ Frowardness is in his heart, he deviseth mischief continually; he soweth discord.

¹⁵ The labour of the foolish wearieth every one of them, because he knoweth not how to go to the city.

² Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing before God: for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let thy words be few.

¹¹ Whoredom and wine and new wine take away the heart.

⁷ Surely oppression maketh a wise man mad; and a gift destroyeth the heart.

² A wise man's heart is at his right hand; but a fool's heart at his left.

⁸ Let thy garments be always white; and let thy head lack no ointment.

² A man to whom God hath given riches, wealth, and honour, so that he wanteth nothing for his soul of all that he desireth, yet God giveth him not power to eat thereof, but a stranger eateth it: this is vanity, and it is an evil disease.

³ If a man beget an hundred children, and live many years, so that the days of his years be many, and his soul be not filled with good, and also that he have no burial; I say, that an untimely birth is better than he.

¹³ And also that every man should eat and drink, and enjoy the good of all his labour, it is the gift of God.

¹⁰ That which hath been is named already, and it is known that it is man: neither may he contend with him that is mightier than he.