Ecclesiastes 9:14
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:
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.
16 And I said, “Wisdom is better than strength, but the wisdom of the poor man is despised, and his words are not heeded.”
Here the Bible tells a story about someone else. Ask yourself what it can say to us today. Do read the surrounding verses too, because the context often says more than a single verse.
Compare
- BSB
- There was a small city with few men. A mighty king came against it, surrounded it, and built large siege ramps against it.
- KJV
- There was a little city, and few men within it; and there came a great king against it, and besieged it, and built great bulwarks against it:
- WEB
- There was a little city, and few men within it; and a great king came against it, besieged it, and built great bulwarks against it.
- ASV
- There was a little city, and few men within it; and there came a great king against it, and besieged it, and built great bulwarks against it.
- DARBY
- There was a little city, and few men within it; and there came a great king against it, and encompassed it, and built great bulwarks against it:
- BLB
- A city [was] small, and few men in it; and a great king came against it, and he besieged it and built great siege ramps against it.
- ÅB
- Det var en liten by med få folk i; til den kom det en stor konge og kringsatte den og bygget store voller mot den;
- OTB
- Det var en liten by med få innbyggere, og en stor konge kom mot den, omringet den, og bygde store beleiringsverk mot den.
- B1930
- Det var en liten by med få folk i; til den kom det en stor konge og kringsatte den og bygget store voller mot den;
Study notes (Tyndale)
Original text and word study
Cross references
2 Samuel 20:15–22
And Joab’s troops came and besieged Sheba in Abel-beth-maacah and built a siege ramp against the outer rampart of the city. As all the troops with Joab were battering the wall to topple it,
Read in context2 Kings 6:24–7:20
Some time later, Ben-hadad king of Aram assembled his entire army and marched up to besiege Samaria.
Read in context