Ecclesiastes 9:11-18
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
11 Again I saw that under the sun the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to the intelligent, nor favor to the skillful, but time and chance happen to them all.(A) 12 For no one can anticipate one’s time. Like fish taken in a cruel net or like birds caught in a snare, so mortals are snared at a time of calamity, when it suddenly falls upon them.(B)
Wisdom Superior to Folly
13 I have also seen this example of wisdom under the sun, and it seemed great to me. 14 There was a little city with few people in it. A great king came against it and besieged it, building great siegeworks against it. 15 Now there was found in it a poor wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city. Yet no one remembered that poor man.(C) 16 So I said, “Wisdom is better than might; yet the poor man’s wisdom is despised, and his words are not heeded.”(D)
17 The quiet words of the wise are more to be heeded
than the shouting of a ruler among fools.(E)
18 Wisdom is better than weapons of war,
but one bungler destroys much good.(F)
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.