סֶ֫כֶל

From the study of Ecclesiastes 10:6

Range of meaning

Folly or foolishness: the absence of the practical and moral good sense that lets a person, household or state run well. In Ecclesiastes the word and its relative sikhlut are the regular opposite of ḥokhmah (wisdom) (2:3, 2:12–13, 7:25, 10:1, 10:13). It means more than being silly. It is bad judgment with real consequences.

Against the English

"Folly" (BSB, KJV, ESV, WEB) keeps the abstract noun. "Fools" (NIV, YLT "the fool") turns it into people. Both are defensible. The abstract makes the picture sharper: Foolishness itself sits in office. The English word "folly" can sound quaint or merely silly, which is weaker than the Hebrew.

How it drifted

In modern English "folly" has shifted toward whimsy or an expensive mistake. The Hebrew word is the moral and practical opposite of wisdom.

Used elsewhere in the period

In Ecclesiastes 2:13 wisdom excels folly "as light excels darkness", and 10:1 says "a little folly outweighs wisdom and honour." It is spelled with samekh (ס). Elsewhere a word that sounds identical but is spelled with sin (שֶׂכֶל, sekhel) means "insight, good sense". Qohelet consistently uses the samekh spelling for folly. The Septuagint renders it concretely as aphrōn ("senseless person").