Ecclesiastes 10:13

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.”