Now a poor wise man was found in the city, and he saved the city by his wisdom. Yet no one remembered that poor man.
Parallel translations
- WEB Now a poor wise man was found in it, and he by his wisdom delivered the city; yet no man remembered that same poor man.
- KJV Now there was found in it a poor wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city; yet no man remembered that same poor man.
- NKJV Now there was found in it a poor wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city. Yet no one remembered that same poor man.
- NASB But there was found in it a poor wise man, and he saved the city by his wisdom. Yet no one remembered that poor man.
- NLT A poor, wise man knew how to save the town, and so it was rescued. But afterward no one thought to thank him.
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
A poor but wise man delivered the city by his wisdom, yet no one remembered him afterward. Wisdom proves powerful even when the world fails to honor it.
Overview
The poor wise man's wisdom rescues the city, but he receives no lasting gratitude or recognition. Qoheleth highlights both the effectiveness and the underappreciation of true wisdom. This unremembered deliverer is a faint echo of Christ, the despised yet saving wisdom of God who was rejected by those he came to rescue (Isaiah 53:3; John 1:11).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 5
- Eccl 4:13Better is a poor but wise youth than an old but foolish king who no longer knows how to take a warning.
- Gen 40:23The chief cupbearer, however, did not remember Joseph; he forgot all about him.
- Esth 6:2–3And there it was found recorded that Mordecai had exposed Bigthana and Teresh, two of the eunuchs who guarded the king’s entrance, when they had conspired to assassinate King Xerxes.
- 2 Sam 20:22Then the woman went to all the people with her wise counsel, and they cut off the head of Sheba son of Bichri and threw it to Joab. So he blew the ram’s horn and his men dispersed from the city, each to his own home. And Joab returned to the king in Jerusalem.
- Eccl 2:16For there is no lasting remembrance of the wise, just as with the fool, seeing that both will be forgotten in the days to come. Alas, the wise man will die just like the fool!
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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 9:15 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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