Ecclesiastes 9:11

The race is not always to the swift nor the battle to the strong, for time and chance befall everyone. Human advantages do not guarantee success in a world we cannot control.

Cross-references · 27

• Jer 9:23This is what the LORD says: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, nor the strong man in his strength, nor the wealthy man in his riches.
• Prov 21:30–31There is no wisdom, no understanding, no counsel that can prevail against the LORD.
• Job 5:11–14He sets the lowly on high, so that mourners are lifted to safety.
• Lam 3:37–38Who has spoken and it came to pass, unless the Lord has ordained it?
• Eccl 3:17I said in my heart, “God will judge the righteous and the wicked, since there is a time for every activity and every deed.”
• Eccl 3:14I know that everything God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it or taken from it. God does it so that they should fear Him.
• Amos 2:14–16Escape will fail the swift, the strong will not prevail by his strength, and the mighty will not save his life.
• Ps 147:10–11He does not delight in the strength of the horse; He takes no pleasure in the legpower of the man.
• Eph 1:11In Him we were also chosen as God’s own, having been predestined according to the plan of Him who works out everything by the counsel of His will,
• 2 Chr 20:15And he said, “Listen, all you people of Judah and Jerusalem! Listen, King Jehoshaphat! This is what the LORD says: ‘Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army, for the battle does not belong to you, but to God.
• Eccl 2:14–15The wise man has eyes in his head, but the fool walks in darkness. Yet I also came to realize that one fate overcomes them both.
• Deut 8:18But remember that it is the LORD your God who gives you the power to gain wealth, in order to confirm His covenant that He swore to your fathers even to this day.
• Eccl 4:4I saw that all labor and success spring from a man’s envy of his neighbor. This too is futile and a pursuit of the wind.
• Jer 46:6“The swift cannot flee, and the warrior cannot escape! In the north by the River Euphrates they stumble and fall.
• 1 Sam 2:3–10Do not boast so proudly, or let arrogance come from your mouth, for the LORD is a God who knows, and by Him actions are weighed.
• Eccl 7:13Consider the work of God: Who can straighten what He has bent?
• Ps 33:16–17No king is saved by his vast army; no warrior is delivered by his great strength.
• Ps 73:6–7Therefore pride is their necklace; a garment of violence covers them.
• 2 Sam 17:14Then Absalom and all the men of Israel said, “The advice of Hushai the Archite is better than that of Ahithophel.” For the LORD had purposed to thwart the good counsel of Ahithophel in order to bring disaster on Absalom.
• Eccl 2:12Then I turned to consider wisdom and madness and folly; for what more can the king’s successor do than what has already been accomplished?
• Eccl 4:1Again I looked, and I considered all the oppression taking place under the sun. I saw the tears of the oppressed, and they had no comforter; the power lay in the hands of their oppressors, and there was no comforter.
• Job 34:29But when He remains silent, who can condemn Him? When He hides His face, who can see Him? Yet He watches over both man and nation,
• Mal 3:18So you will again distinguish between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not.”
• 1 Sam 17:50Thus David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone; without a sword in his hand he struck down the Philistine and killed him.
• 2 Sam 17:23When Ahithophel saw that his advice had not been followed, he saddled his donkey and set out for his house in his hometown. He put his affairs in order and hanged himself. So he died and was buried in his father’s tomb.
• Dan 4:35All the peoples of the earth are counted as nothing, and He does as He pleases with the army of heaven and the peoples of the earth. There is no one who can restrain His hand or say to Him, ‘What have You done?’”
• 2 Sam 2:18–23The three sons of Zeruiah were there: Joab, Abishai, and Asahel. Now Asahel was fleet of foot like a wild gazelle,

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