8 He who digs a pit will fall into it, and whoever breaks through a wall will be bitten by a serpent.
9 He who quarries stones may be hurt by them, and he who splits wood may be endangered by it.
10 If the ax is dull, and one does not sharpen the edge, then he must use more strength; but wisdom brings success.
11 A serpent may bite when it is not charmed; the babbler is no different.
12 The words of a wise man’s mouth are gracious, but the lips of a fool shall swallow him up;
13 The words of his mouth begin with foolishness, and the end of his talk is raving madness.
14 A fool also multiplies words. no man knows what is to be; who can tell him what will be after him?
15 The labor of fools wearies them, for they do not even know how to go to the city!
He who digs a pit will fall into it (v.8) — The plots of the wicked often backfire.
Verse 10 is saying that a sharpened axe makes it much easier to cut wood, and wisdom makes it much easier to accomplish any task.
babbler (v.11) = lit. “master of the tongue.” Here, the snake charmer.
swallow him up (v.12) — A fool’s words bring about his own downfall.
multiplies words (v.14) — from the context of the verse, woods that predict the future. Attempt to guess what will happen are foolish.
They do not even know how to go to the city (v.15) — A proverbial expression for one who was grossly ignorant of something that was very plain and obvious to everyone else. Fools exhaust themselves trying to figure out what should be obvious. Yet they want to “enlighten” everyone else when they have no clue. — Grace.
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In the East fences are made of loose stones, and serpents frequently hide in them (v.8). The point in verse 10 is that intelligence is better than coercion. The latter may succeed, but it costs effort and involves danger. The argument of verse 11 is that both a slanderer and a serpent may be skillfully avoided. Human science (vs.12-15) multiplies books and theories, and wearies itself in such labor. But its uselessness and ignorance are demonstrated by its inability to declare the future (v.14). — Williams, page 447.
