Ecclesiastes 9:14 — Meaning and Application

King James Version

“{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 against it:”

Ecclesiastes 9:14

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Understanding the surrounding verses prevents misinterpretation:

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 upon them.

This wisdom have I seen also under the sun, and it {seemed} great unto me:

{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 against it:

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.

Then said I, Wisdom {is} better than strength: nevertheless the poor man's wisdom {is} despised, and his words are not heard.

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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 them. {I considered...: Heb. I gave, or, set to my heart}"

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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