This wisdom have I seen also under the sun, and it seemed great unto me:
Parallel translations
- WEB I have also seen wisdom under the sun in this way, and it seemed great to me.
- BSB I have also seen this wisdom under the sun, and it was great to 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 mine heart to know wisdom, and to see the business that is done upon the earth: (for also there is that neither day nor night seeth sleep with his eyes:)
- Eccl 6:1There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, and it is common among men:
- Eccl 7:15All things have I seen in the days of my vanity: there is a just man that perisheth in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man that prolongeth his life in his wickedness.
- Eccl 9:11I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them 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
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.