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Read the Bible

Contemporary English Version

Ecclesiastes 9:13

Once I saw what people really think of wisdom.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Wisdom;  

Dictionaries:

- Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Wisdom literature;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Ecclesiastes, Book of;   Parables;   Poor, Orphan, Widow;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Ecclesiastes;   Fortification and Siegecraft;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Ecclesiastes, or the Preacher;  

Devotionals:

- Every Day Light - Devotion for August 22;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
I have observed that this also is wisdom under the sun, and it is significant to me:
Hebrew Names Version
I have also seen wisdom under the sun in this way, and it seemed great to me.
King James Version
This wisdom have I seen also under the sun, and it seemed great unto me:
English Standard Version
I have also seen this example of wisdom under the sun, and it seemed great to me.
New American Standard Bible
This too I saw as wisdom under the sun, and it impressed me:
New Century Version
I also saw something wise here on earth that impressed me.
Amplified Bible
This [illustration of] wisdom I have also seen under the sun, and great it was to me:
World English Bible
I have also seen wisdom under the sun in this way, and it seemed great to me.
Geneva Bible (1587)
I haue also seene this wisedome vnder the sunne, and it is great vnto me.
Legacy Standard Bible
Also this I came to see as wisdom under the sun, and it was great to me.
Berean Standard Bible
I have also seen this wisdom under the sun, and it was great to me:
Complete Jewish Bible
Here is something else I have seen as wisdom under the sun, and it seemed important to me:
Darby Translation
This also have I seen as wisdom under the sun, and it was great unto me.
Easy-to-Read Version
I also saw a person doing a wise thing in this life, and it seemed very important to me.
George Lamsa Translation
This wisdom I have seen also under the sun, and it seemed great to me:
Good News Translation
There is something else I saw, a good example of how wisdom is regarded in this world.
Lexham English Bible
I have also seen this example of wisdom under the sun, and it seemed great to me.
Literal Translation
This wisdom I saw also under the sun, and it is great to me:
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
This wi?dome haue I sene also vnder ye Sone, & me thought it a greate thinge.
American Standard Version
I have also seen wisdom under the sun on this wise, and it seemed great unto me:
Bible in Basic English
This again I have seen under the sun as wisdom and it seemed great to me.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
This also have I seen as wisdom under the sun, and it seemed great unto me:
King James Version (1611)
This wisedome haue I seene also vnder the Sunne, and it seemed great vnto me:
Bishop's Bible (1568)
This wysdome haue I seene also vnder the sunne, and me thought it a great thing:
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
This I also saw to be wisdom under the sun, and it is great before me:
English Revised Version
I have also seen wisdom under the sun on this wise, and it seemed great unto me:
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Also Y siy this wisdom vndur the sunne, and Y preuede it the mooste.
Update Bible Version
I have also seen wisdom under the sun on this wise, and it seemed great to me:
Webster's Bible Translation
This wisdom have I seen also under the sun, and it [seemed] to me great:
New English Translation
This is what I also observed about wisdom on earth, and it is a great burden to me:
New King James Version
This wisdom I have also seen under the sun, and it seemed great to me:
New Living Translation
Here is another bit of wisdom that has impressed me as I have watched the way our world works.
New Life Bible
I have also seen this as wisdom under the sun, and it made me think.
New Revised Standard
I have also seen this example of wisdom under the sun, and it seemed great to me.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Even this, had I seen of wisdom, under the sun, - and, of great import, was the same unto me: -
Douay-Rheims Bible
This wisdom also I have seen under the sun, and it seemed to me to be very great:
Revised Standard Version
I have also seen this example of wisdom under the sun, and it seemed great to me.
Young's Literal Translation
This also I have seen: wisdom under the sun, and it is great to me.
THE MESSAGE
One day as I was observing how wisdom fares on this earth, I saw something that made me sit up and take notice. There was a small town with only a few people in it. A strong king came and mounted an attack, building trenches and attack posts around it. There was a poor but wise man in that town whose wisdom saved the town, but he was promptly forgotten. (He was only a poor man, after all.)
New American Standard Bible (1995)
Also this I came to see as wisdom under the sun, and it impressed me.

Contextual Overview

13 Once I saw what people really think of wisdom. 14 It happened when a powerful ruler surrounded and attacked a small city where only a few people lived. The enemy army was getting ready to break through the city walls. 15 But the city was saved by the wisdom of a poor person who was soon forgotten. 16 So I decided that wisdom is better than strength. Yet if you are poor, no one pays any attention to you, no matter how smart you are. 17 Words of wisdom spoken softly make much more sense than the shouts of a ruler to a crowd of fools. 18 Wisdom is more powerful than weapons, yet one mistake can destroy all the good you have done.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Ecclesiastes 9:11, Ecclesiastes 6:1, Ecclesiastes 7:15, Ecclesiastes 8:16

Reciprocal: Proverbs 21:22 - General Ecclesiastes 1:3 - under Ecclesiastes 2:19 - wise under Daniel 2:14 - with

Cross-References

Ezekiel 1:28
as colorful as a rainbow that appears after a storm. I realized I was seeing the brightness of the Lord 's glory! So I bowed with my face to the ground, and just then I heard a voice speaking to me.
Revelation 4:3
The one who was sitting there sparkled like precious stones of jasper and carnelian. A rainbow that looked like an emerald surrounded the throne.
Revelation 10:1
I saw another powerful angel come down from heaven. This one was covered with a cloud, and a rainbow was over his head. His face was like the sun, his legs were like columns of fire,

Gill's Notes on the Bible

This wisdom have I seen also under the sun,.... Or, "this also I have seen under the sun, even wisdom" h: besides those things he had, just now observed, he took notice that there was such a thing as wisdom among men; though success did not always attend the wise, the understanding, and skilful; and though there was so much ignorance in men, of their own time, and were so easily and suddenly ensnared in an evil time;

and it [seemed] great unto me; Solomon had a high value for wisdom, and he still retained the same sentiments of it he had before, in Ecclesiastes 2:13, of which he gives the following instance.

h גם זה ראיתי חכמה תחת השמש "Hoc etiam vidi sub sole, nempe sapientiam", Tigurine version; "etiam hoc vidi, sapientiam sub sole", Cocceius; "etiam hoc vidi, videlicet, sapientiam sub sole", Gejerus.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Or, Also this have I seen - wisdom under the sun, and great it seemed to me.

From this verse to the end of Ecclesiastes 10:0, the writer inculcates, in a series of proverbs, wisdom in contrast to folly, as the best remedy in the present life to the evil of vanity.


 
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