Ecclesiastes 9:13

Wisdom Is Better than Strength

13 I have also seen this wisdom under the sun, and it was great to me:

Ecclesiastes 9:13 Meaning and Commentary

Ecclesiastes 9:13

This wisdom have I seen also under the sun
Or, "this also I have seen under the sun, even wisdom" ^F8: besides those things he had, just now observed, he took notice that there was such a thing as wisdom among men; though success did not always attend the wise, the understanding, and skilful; and though there was so much ignorance in men, of their own time, and were so easily and suddenly ensnared in an evil time; and it [seemed] great unto me;
Solomon had a high value for wisdom, and he still retained the same sentiments of it he had before, in ( Ecclesiastes 2:13 ) ( Ecclesiastes 7:11 Ecclesiastes 7:12 Ecclesiastes 7:19 ) , of which he gives the following instance.

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FOOTNOTES:

F8 (vmvh txt hmkx ytyar hz Mg) "Hoc etiam vidi sub sole, nempe sapientiam", Tigurine version; "etiam hoc vidi, sapientiam sub sole", Cocceius; "etiam hoc vidi, videlicet, sapientiam sub sole", Gejerus.

Ecclesiastes 9:13 In-Context

11 I saw something else under the sun: The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong; neither is the bread to the wise, nor the wealth to the intelligent, nor the favor to the skillful. For time and chance happen to all.

12 For surely no man knows his time: Like fish caught in a cruel net or birds trapped in a snare, so men are ensnared in an evil time that suddenly falls upon them.

13 I have also seen this wisdom under the sun, and it was great to me:

14 There was a small city with few men. A mighty king came against it, surrounded it, and built large siege ramps against it.

15 Now a poor wise man was found in the city, and he saved the city by his wisdom. Yet no one remembered that poor man.