Ecclesiastes 10:13

At the beginning his words ¹  are foolish and at the end ²  his talk ³  is wicked madness, ⁴ 

biblegateway Ecc 10:13

At the beginning his words are folly; at the end they are wicked madness—

biblegateway Ecc 10:13

the beginning of his talking is folly and the end of it is wicked madness.

biblegateway Ecc 10:13

Since fools base their thoughts on foolish premises, their conclusions will be wicked madness.

biblegateway Ecc 10:13

He starts out talking nonsense And ends up spouting insanity and evil.

SABDAweb Ecc 10:13

The first words of his mouth are foolish, and the end of his talk is evil crime.

bibleoremus Ecc 10:13

The words of their mouths begin in foolishness, and their talk ends in wicked madness;

biblegateway Ecc 10:13

The words of his mouth begin with foolishness, And the end of his talk is raving madness.

biblegateway Ecc 10:13

At the beginning his words ¹  are foolish and at the end ²  his talk ³  is wicked madness, ⁴ 

¹ tn Heb “the words of his mouth.”

² sn The terms “beginning” and “end” form a merism, a figure of speech in which two opposites are contrasted to indicate totality (e.g., Deut 6:7; Ps 139:8; Eccl 3:2-8). The words of a fool are madness from “start to finish.”

³ tn Heb “his mouth.”

⁴ tn Heb “madness of evil.”