Wisdom strengthens the wise More than ten rulers of the city.
Parallel translations
- WEB Wisdom is a strength to the wise man more than ten rulers who are in a city.
- KJV Wisdom strengtheneth the wise more than ten mighty men which are in the city.
- BSB Wisdom makes the wise man stronger than ten rulers in a 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 this, don’t cease praying and making requests for you, that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding,
- Prov 21:22A wise man scales the city of the mighty, and brings down the strength of its confidence.
- Prov 24:5A wise man has great power; and a knowledgeable man increases strength;
- Eccl 9:13–18I have also seen wisdom under the sun in this way, and it seemed great to me.
- 2 Sam 20:16–22Then a wise woman cried out of the city, “Hear, hear! Please say to Joab, ‘Come near here, that I may speak with you.’”
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.