New American Standard Bible 2020

Ecclesiastes 9:11-18

11I again saw under the sun that the 1race is not to the swift and the 2battle is not to the warriors, and neither is bread to the wise nor 3wealth to the discerning, nor favor to the skillful; for time and 4chance overtake them all. 12For indeed, a person does not 5know his time: like fish that are caught in a treacherous net and 6birds caught in a snare, so the sons of mankind are 7ensnared at an evil time when it 8suddenly falls on them.

13This too I saw as wisdom under the sun, and 9it impressed me: 14there 10was a small city with few men in it, and a great king came to it, surrounded it, and constructed large siegeworks against it. 15But there was found in it a 11poor wise man, and he 12saved the city 13by his wisdom. Yet 14no one remembered that poor man. 16So I said, “15Wisdom is better than strength.” But the wisdom of the poor man is despised, and his words are 16ignored. 17The 17words of the wise heard in calm are better than the shouting of a ruler among fools. 18 18Wisdom is better than weapons of war, but 19one sinner destroys much good.

Read all of Ecclesiastes 9

Notes

1. Ecclesiastes 9:11 Amos 2:14, 15 ↩
2. Ecclesiastes 9:11 2 Chr 20:15; Ps 76:5; Zech 4:6 ↩
3. Ecclesiastes 9:11 Deut 8:17, 18 ↩
4. Ecclesiastes 9:11 1 Sam 6:9 ↩
5. Ecclesiastes 9:12 Eccl 8:7 ↩
6. Ecclesiastes 9:12 Prov 7:23 ↩
7. Ecclesiastes 9:12 Prov 29:6; Is 24:18; Hos 9:8 ↩
8. Ecclesiastes 9:12 Luke 21:34, 35 ↩
9. Ecclesiastes 9:13 Lit it was great to me ↩
10. Ecclesiastes 9:14 2 Sam 20:16-22 ↩
11. Ecclesiastes 9:15 Eccl 4:13 ↩
12. Ecclesiastes 9:15 Or might have saved ↩
13. Ecclesiastes 9:15 2 Sam 20:22 ↩
14. Ecclesiastes 9:15 Eccl 2:16; 8:10 ↩
15. Ecclesiastes 9:16 Prov 21:22; Eccl 7:12, 19 ↩
16. Ecclesiastes 9:16 Lit not listened to ↩
17. Ecclesiastes 9:17 Eccl 7:5; 10:12 ↩
18. Ecclesiastes 9:18 Eccl 9:16 ↩
19. Ecclesiastes 9:18 Josh 7:1-26; 2 Kin 21:2-17 ↩

Notes

Commentaries on Ecclesiastes 9