Key Verse Spotlight
Ecclesiastes 9:12 - Meaning and Application
Understand how this verse speaks to what you're facing and how to apply it today
Translation: King James Version
" For man also knoweth not his time: as the fishes that are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare; so are the sons of men snared in an evil time, when it falleth suddenly "
Ecclesiastes 9:12
Verse in Context
Understanding the surrounding verses prevents misinterpretation:
10 Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest.
11 I 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
12 For man also knoweth not his time: as the fishes that are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare; so are the sons of men snared in an evil time, when it falleth suddenly
13 This wisdom have I seen also under the sun, and it seemed great
14 There was a little city, and few men within it; and there came a great king against it, and besieged it, and built great bulwarks
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From This Chapter
Ecclesiastes 9:1
"For all this I considered in my heart even to declare all this, that the righteous, and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God: no man knoweth either love or hatred by all that is before"
Ecclesiastes 9:2
"All things come alike to all: there is one event to the righteous, and to the wicked; to the good and to the clean, and to the unclean; to him that sacrificeth, and to him that sacrificeth not: as is the good, so is the sinner; and he that sweareth, as he that feareth an oath."
Ecclesiastes 9:3
"This is an evil among all things that are done under the sun, that there is one event unto all: yea, also the heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live, and after that they go to the dead."
Ecclesiastes 9:4
"For to him that is joined to all the living there is hope: for a living dog is better than a dead lion."
Ecclesiastes 9:5
"For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten."
Ecclesiastes 9:6
"Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun."
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