Surely the serpent will bite without enchantment; and a babbler is no better.
Without enchantment - if "enchantment" is not used.
And a babbler (a babbling calumniator) is no better. Therefore, as one may escape a serpent by charms (Psalms 58:4-5), so one may escape the sting of a calumniator by discretion (Ecclesiastes 10:12). (Holden.) Thus, "without enchantment" answers to "not whet the edge" (Ecclesiastes 10:10), both expressing, figuratively, want of judgment. Maurer translates, 'There is no gain to the enchanter from his enchantments, because the serpent bites before he uses them. It is no use to a subject, however expert with his tongue, afterward to try to appease the auger of his prince when he not tried to do so at first. I prefer the former view. The 'master of the tongue' is an evil speaker, whose chief possession is his tongue (Psalms 140:3; Psalms 140:11, margin, 'let not a man of tongue be established in the earth'). Since the serpent-brood of Satan and the worldly "generation of vipers" are ever ready to bite the godly, hence, the need of continual caution. Ecclesiastes 10:8-10, caution in acting; from the want of such godly caution the wicked, while breaking their neighbour's hedge, are suddenly 'bitten' by the "serpent" out of it; Ecclesiastes 10:11, and following verses, caution in speaking.