Wisdom strengtheneth the wise more than ten mighty men which are in the city.
Parallel translations
- WEB Wisdom is a strength to the wise man more than ten rulers who are in a city.
- BSB Wisdom makes the wise man stronger than ten rulers in a city.
- NKJV Wisdom strengthens the wise More than ten rulers of the city.
- NASB Wisdom strengthens a wise person more than ten rulers who are in a city.
- NLT One wise person is stronger than ten leading citizens of a town!
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Wisdom gives a wise man more strength than ten rulers in a city. It matters because godly wisdom is a greater power than political or military might.
Overview
The Preacher exalts wisdom as a strength surpassing that of many city rulers, recalling how wisdom once delivered a city (9:14-15). True wisdom accomplishes what raw power cannot. This points beyond human cleverness to the wisdom of God in Christ, which is stronger than men (1 Corinthians 1:25) and through which God overcomes the world.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 5
- Col 1:9–11For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;
- Prov 21:22A wise man scaleth the city of the mighty, and casteth down the strength of the confidence thereof.
- Prov 24:5A wise man is strong; yea, a man of knowledge increaseth strength.
- Eccl 9:13–18This wisdom have I seen also under the sun, and it seemed great unto me:
- 2 Sam 20:16–22Then cried a wise woman out of the city, Hear, hear; say, I pray you, unto Joab, Come near hither, that I may speak with thee.
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Christ at the center
The search that finds everything 'under the sun' to be vapor exposes the emptiness of life without God and drives us to the one who alone gives meaning, the resurrection that makes our labor not in vain.
How Ecclesiastes 7:19 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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