I have also seen this wisdom under the sun, and it was great to me:
Parallel translations
- WEB I have also seen wisdom under the sun in this way, and it seemed great to me.
- KJV This wisdom have I seen also under the sun, and it seemed great unto me:
- NKJV This wisdom I have also seen under the sun, and it seemed great to me:
- NASB This too I saw as wisdom under the sun, and it impressed me:
- NLT Here is another bit of wisdom that has impressed me as I have watched the way our world works.
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
The Preacher introduces an example of wisdom that struck him as great and worth pondering. He prepares to show wisdom's real worth despite how the world treats it.
Overview
Qoheleth sets up a brief parable to illustrate the value, and the neglect, of wisdom. The framing signals that what follows carries weight. It continues his honest examination of how true wisdom fares in a fallen world, a wisdom ultimately fulfilled and vindicated in Christ (1 Corinthians 1:24-25).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 4
- Eccl 8:16When I applied my mind to know wisdom and to observe the task that one performs on the earth—though his eyes do not see sleep in the day or even in the night—
- Eccl 6:1There is another evil I have seen under the sun, and it weighs heavily upon mankind:
- Eccl 7:15In my futile life I have seen both of these: A righteous man perishing in his righteousness, and a wicked man living long in his wickedness.
- Eccl 9:11I saw something else under the sun: The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong; neither is the bread to the wise, nor the wealth to the intelligent, nor the favor to the skillful. For time and chance happen to all.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 9:13 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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