Bible Strands
Ecclesiastes 10:1
As dead flies bring a stench to the perfumer’s oil, so a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Qoheleth addresses readers in a wisdom discourse, using a domestic analogy to illustrate how minor moral corruption rapidly degrades established virtue. He immediately follows this proverb by contrasting the directional inclinations of the wise and the fool.
The words — זְב֣וּבֵי מָ֔וֶת (ze.Vu.vei Ma.vet) = dead flies, and יַבְאִ֥ישׁ (yav.'Ish) = causes to stink or ruins. These terms describe how a small amount of decay contaminates a large quantity of preserved oil.
The thread — The perfumer’s oil motif appears in Exodus 30:25 as a sacred blend, while Matthew 5:13 extends the spoilage imagery to salt losing its preserving power. Galatians 2:12 is excluded from this thematic link as it records Peter’s social withdrawal rather than a decay motif.
Why it lands — The text states that a small measure of folly carries more weight than accumulated wisdom and honor. It demands that readers treat minor moral failures as immediate threats to their character rather than negligible oversights.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
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.
Cross-references
- Matthew 5:13 You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its savor, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men.
- Galatians 2:12 For before certain men came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself, for fear of those in the circumcision group.
- Exodus 30:25 Prepare from these a sacred anointing oil, a fragrant blend, the work of a perfumer; it will be a sacred anointing oil.
- Nehemiah 13:26 Did not King Solomon of Israel sin in matters like this? There was not a king like him among many nations, and he was loved by his God, who made him king over all Israel—yet foreign women drew him into sin.
- 2 Chronicles 19:2 Jehu son of Hanani the seer went out to confront him and said to King Jehoshaphat, “Should you help the wicked and love those who hate the LORD? Because of this, the wrath of the LORD is upon you.
- Exodus 30:34 The LORD also said to Moses, “Take fragrant spices—gum resin, onycha, galbanum, and pure frankincense—in equal measures,
- Nehemiah 6:13 He had been hired to intimidate me so that I would sin by doing as he suggested, so they could give me a bad name in order to discredit me.