Ecclesiastes 9:10-18

New International Version

¹⁰Whatever^(A) your hand finds to do, do it with all your might,^(B) for in the realm of the dead,^(C) where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom.^(D)

¹¹I have seen something else under the sun:

The race is not to the swift
    or the battle to the strong,^(E)
nor does food come to the wise^(F)
    or wealth to the brilliant
    or favor to the learned;
but time and chance^(G) happen to them all.^(H)

¹²Moreover, no one knows when their hour will come:

As fish are caught in a cruel net,
or birds are taken in a snare,
so people are trapped by evil times^(I)
that fall unexpectedly upon them.^(J)

Wisdom Better Than Folly

¹³I also saw under the sun this example of wisdom^(K) that greatly impressed me: ¹⁴There was once a small city with only a few people in it. And a powerful king came against it, surrounded it and built huge siege works against it. ¹⁵Now there lived in that city a man poor but wise, and he saved the city by his wisdom. But nobody remembered that poor man.^(L) ¹⁶So I said, “Wisdom is better than strength.” But the poor man’s wisdom is despised, and his words are no longer heeded.^(M)

¹⁷The quiet words of the wise are more to be heeded
than the shouts of a ruler of fools.
¹⁸Wisdom^(N) is better than weapons of war,
but one sinner destroys much good.

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