Ecclesiastes 10:12–14

The words of a wise man’s mouth win him favor,

but the lips of a fool consume him.

The beginning of the words of his mouth is foolishness,

and the end of his talk is evil madness.

A fool multiplies words,

though no man knows what is to be,

and who can tell him what will be after him?

Words from the mouth of the wise are gracious,

but fools are consumed by their own lips.

At the beginning their words are folly;

at the end they are wicked madness—

and fools multiply words.

No one knows what is coming—

who can tell someone else what will happen after them?

The words from the mouth of a wise person are gracious,

but the lips of a fool consume him.

The beginning of the words from his mouth is folly,

but the end of his speaking is evil madness;

yet the fool multiplies words.

No one knows what will happen,

and who can tell anyone what will happen after him?

Wise words bring approval,

but fools are destroyed by their own words.

Fools base their thoughts on foolish assumptions,

so their conclusions will be wicked madness;

they chatter on and on.

No one really knows what is going to happen;

no one can predict the future.

The wise man wins favor by the words of his mouth,

but the fool is devoured by his own lips.

He begins by saying what is foolish

and ends by uttering what is wicked delusion.

The fool talks too much,

for no one knows what will be.

Who can tell anyone what will happen in the future?

The words of a wise man’s mouth are gracious; but the lips of a fool will swallow up himself. The beginning of the words of his mouth is foolishness: and the end of his talk is mischievous madness. A fool also is full of words: a man cannot tell what shall be; and what shall be after him, who can tell him?