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Selected Verse: Ecclesiates 10:8 - King James
| Verse |
Translation |
Text |
| Ec 10:8 |
King James |
He that diggeth a pit shall fall into it; and whoso breaketh an hedge, a serpent shall bite him. |
Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse
| A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882] |
| The fatal results to kings of such an unwise policy; the wrong done to others recoils on themselves (Ecc 8:9); they fall into the pit which they dug for others (Est 7:10; Psa 7:15; Pro 26:27). Breaking through the wise fences of their throne, they suffer unexpectedly themselves; as when one is stung by a serpent lurking in the stones of his neighbor's garden wall (Psa 80:12), which he maliciously pulls down (Amo 5:19). |
| Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834] |
The figures seem to be taken from the work of building up and pulling down houses. In their general application, they recommend the man who would act wisely to be cautious when taking any step in life which involves risk.
Ecc 10:8
Breaketh an hedge - Rather: "breaks through a wall."
Serpent - The habit of snakes is to nestle in a chink of a wall, or among stones (compare Amo 5:19).
Ecc 10:9
Be endangered - Rather: "cut himself." |
| Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78] |
"He that diggeth a pit may fall into it; whoso breaketh down walls, a serpent may sting him. Whoso pulleth out stones may do himself hurt therewith; he who cleaveth wood may endanger himself thereby." The futures are not the expression of that which will necessarily take place, for, thus rendered, these four statements would be contrary to experience; they are the expression of a possibility. The fut. יפּול is not here meant as predicting an event, as where the clause 8a is a figure of self-punishment arising from the destruction prepared for others, Pro 26:27. Sir. 27:26. גּוּמּץ is, Pro 26:27, the Targum word for שׁחת, ditch, from גּמץ = שׁוּח, depressum esse. גּדר (R. גד, to cut), something cutting off, something dividing, is a wall as a boundary and means of protection drawn round a garden, vineyard, or farm-court; גּדר פּרץ is the reverse of פּרץ גּדר, Isa 58:12. Serpents are accustomed to nestle in the crevices and holes of walls, as well as in the earth (from a city-wall is called חומה and חל); thus he who breaks into such a wall may expect that the serpent which is there will bite him (cf. Amo 5:19). To tear down stones, hissi'a, is synon. of hhatsav, to break stones, Isa 51:1; yet hhotsēv does not usually mean the stone-breaker, but the stone-cutter (stone-mason); hissi'a, from nasa', to tear out, does not also signify, Kg1 5:18, "to transport," and here, along with wood-splitting, is certainly to be thought of as a breaking loose or separating in the quarry or shaft. Ne'etsav signifies elsewhere to be afflicted; here, where the reference is not to the internal but the external feeling: to suffer pain, or reflex.: to injure oneself painfully; the derivat. 'etsev signifies also severe labour; but to find this signification in the Niph. ("he who has painful labour") is contrary to the usu loq., and contrary to the meaning intended here, where generally actual injuries are in view. Accordingly בּם יסּכן, for which the Mishn. יסכּן בּעצמו, "he brings himself into danger," would denote, to be placed in danger of life and limb, cf. Gittin 65b, Chullin 37a; and it is therefore not necessary, with Hitzig and others, to translate after the vulnerabitur of Jerome: "He may wound himself thereby;" there is not a denom. סכן, to cut, to wound, derived from סכּין (שׂכּין), an instrument for cutting, a knife.
(Note: The Midrash understands the whole ethically, and illustrates it by the example of Rabsake we know now that the half-Assyr., half-Accad. word rabsak means a military chief], whom report makes a brother of Manasseh, and a renegade in the Assyrian service.)
The sum of these four clauses is certainly not merely that he who undertakes a dangerous matter exposes himself to danger; the author means to say, in this series of proverbs which treat of the distinction between wisdom and folly, that the wise man is everywhere conscious of his danger, and guards against it. These two verses (Ecc 10:8, Ecc 10:9) come under this definite point of view by the following proverb; wisdom has just this value in providing against the manifold dangers and difficulties which every undertaking brings along with it.
(Note: Thus rightly Carl Lang in his Salom. Kunst im Psalter (Marburg 1874). He sees in Ecc 10:8-10 a beautiful heptastich. But as to its contents, Ecc 10:11 also belongs to this group.)
This is illustrated by a fifth example, and then it is declared with reference to all together. |
| Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65] |
| An hedge - Whereby another man's fields or vineyards are distinguished, that he may either take away their fruits, or enlarge his own fields. |
| Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826 |
| Whoso breaketh a hedge, a serpent shall bite him - While spoiling his neighbor's property, he himself may come to greater mischief: while pulling out the sticks, he may be bit by a serpent, who has his nest there. Some have supposed that נחש nachash here means a thorn; perhaps from the similarity of its prick to the serpent's sting. He who forces his way through a hedge will be pricked by the thorns. |
19 As if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear met him; or went into the house, and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him.
12 Why hast thou then broken down her hedges, so that all they which pass by the way do pluck her?
27 Whoso diggeth a pit shall fall therein: and he that rolleth a stone, it will return upon him.
15 He made a pit, and digged it, and is fallen into the ditch which he made.
10 So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then was the king's wrath pacified.
9 All this have I seen, and applied my heart unto every work that is done under the sun: there is a time wherein one man ruleth over another to his own hurt.
9 Whoso removeth stones shall be hurt therewith; and he that cleaveth wood shall be endangered thereby.
19 As if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear met him; or went into the house, and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him.
8 He that diggeth a pit shall fall into it; and whoso breaketh an hedge, a serpent shall bite him.
11 Surely the serpent will bite without enchantment; and a babbler is no better.
8 He that diggeth a pit shall fall into it; and whoso breaketh an hedge, a serpent shall bite him.
9 Whoso removeth stones shall be hurt therewith; and he that cleaveth wood shall be endangered thereby.
10 If the iron be blunt, and he do not whet the edge, then must he put to more strength: but wisdom is profitable to direct.
9 Whoso removeth stones shall be hurt therewith; and he that cleaveth wood shall be endangered thereby.
8 He that diggeth a pit shall fall into it; and whoso breaketh an hedge, a serpent shall bite him.
18 And Solomon's builders and Hiram's builders did hew them, and the stonesquarers: so they prepared timber and stones to build the house.
1 Hearken to me, ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek the LORD: look unto the rock whence ye are hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence ye are digged.
19 As if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear met him; or went into the house, and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him.
12 And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in.
27 Whoso diggeth a pit shall fall therein: and he that rolleth a stone, it will return upon him.
27 Whoso diggeth a pit shall fall therein: and he that rolleth a stone, it will return upon him.