Then I said, “Wisdom is better than strength.” Nevertheless the poor man’s wisdom is despised, and his words are not heard.
Parallel Translations
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Then I said, “Wisdom is better than strength.” Nevertheless the poor man’s wisdom is despised, and his words are not heard.
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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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Then said I: 'Wisdom is better than strength; nevertheless the poor man's wisdom is despised, and his words are not heard.'
Examined in Scripture Analysis
Contradictions (1)
Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
Cross-references (10)
Passages linked to Ecclesiastes 9:16 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Ecclesiastes 7:19 Wisdom is a strength to the wise man more than ten rulers who are in a city.
- Proverbs 24:5 A wise man has great power; and a knowledgeable man increases strength;
- Proverbs 21:22 A wise man scales the city of the mighty, and brings down the strength of its confidence.
- Mark 6:2-3 When the Sabbath had come, he began to teach in the synagogue, and many hearing him were astonished, saying, “Where did this man get these things?” and, “What is the wisdom that is given to this man, that such mighty works come about by his hands? Isn’t this the carpenter, the son of Mary, and brother of James, Joses, Judah, and Simon? Aren’t his sisters here with us?” They were offended at him.
- 1 Corinthians 1:26-29 For you see your calling, brothers, that not many are wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, and not many noble; but God chose the foolish things of the world that he might put to shame those who are wise. God chose the weak things of the world that he might put to shame the things that are strong. God chose the lowly things of the world, and the things that are despised, and the things that don’t exist, that he might bring to nothing the things that exist, that no flesh should boast before God.
- James 2:2-6 For if a man with a gold ring, in fine clothing, comes into your synagogue, and a poor man in filthy clothing also comes in, and you pay special attention to him who wears the fine clothing and say, “Sit here in a good place;” and you tell the poor man, “Stand there,” or “Sit by my footstool” haven’t you shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts? Listen, my beloved brothers. Didn’t God choose those who are poor in this world to be rich in faith, and heirs of the Kingdom which he promised to those who love him? But you have dishonored the poor man. Don’t the rich oppress you, and personally drag you before the courts?
- Proverbs 10:15 The rich man’s wealth is his strong city. The destruction of the poor is their poverty.
- Ecclesiastes 9:18 Wisdom is better than weapons of war; but one sinner destroys much good.
- John 7:47-49 The Pharisees therefore answered them, “You aren’t also led astray, are you? Have any of the rulers believed in him, or of the Pharisees? But this multitude that doesn’t know the law is cursed.”
- John 9:24-34 So they called the man who was blind a second time, and said to him, “Give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner.” He therefore answered, “I don’t know if he is a sinner. One thing I do know: that though I was blind, now I see.” They said to him again, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” He answered them, “I told you already, and you didn’t listen. Why do you want to hear it again? You don’t also want to become his disciples, do you?” They insulted him and said, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. We know that God has spoken to Moses. But as for this man, we don’t know where he comes from.” The man answered them, “How amazing! You don’t know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. We know that God doesn’t listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God, and does his will, he listens to him. Since the world began it has never been heard of that anyone opened the eyes of someone born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” They answered him, “You were altogether born in sins, and do you teach us?” Then they threw him out.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Ecc 9:16 Then said I, Wisdom [is] better than…
Ecc 9:16 Then said I, Wisdom [is] better than strength: nevertheless the poor man’s wisdom [is] despised, and his words are not heard.
Ver. 16. Then said I, Wisdom is better, &c.] This he had said before, {Ecc 7:19 Pro 21:22} {See Trapp on "Ecc 7:19"} {See Trapp on "Pro 21:22"} but now upon this new occasion. Nunquam satis dicitur, quod nunquam satis discitur. {a}
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Nevertheless the poor man’s wisdom is despised.] Jerome reads it thus, Et sapientia pauperis quae despecta est, et verba eius quae non sunt audita; that is, And the wisdom of the poor man which is despised, and his words which are not heard. According to which reading, the sense is, wisdom is better than strength, yea, even the despised wisdom of the poor man, &c. The Septuagint and Vulgate read it, Quomodo ergo sapientia pauperis contempta est et verba eius non audita! How therefore is the wisdom of the wise man despised, and his words not heard! As making a wonder and a strange thing of it. Too often it befalls God’s poor ministers, either to be rejected with scorn, or if heard, yet not regarded, much less rewarded, unless it be as Micaiah was by Ahab, and Jeremiah by his countrymen of Anathoth, Jesus Christ by the proud Pharisees, {Joh 7:14-15; Joh 7:27} St Paul by the ungrateful Corinthians; {1Co 4:7} "His bodily presence," said they, "is weak," his sermons without philosophy and rhetoric. {2Co 10:10}
{a} Seneca.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Wisdom is better than strength, as was manifest in…
Wisdom is better than strength, as was manifest in the foregoing instance.
The poor man’s wisdom is despised, because men are generally vain and foolish, and have a greater value for outward ornaments than for true worth.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Then said I, wisdom is better than strength,.... Wisdom…
Then said I, wisdom is better than strength,.... Wisdom of mind, even in a poor man, is better than strength of body, even of the, most potent prince and powerful army, as may be concluded from the above instance; since the poor wise man could do more by his wisdom than the great king with his mighty army; who was obliged to break up the siege, in consequence of the counsel given, or the methods directed to, or taken, by the poor man;
nevertheless, the poor man's wisdom is despised, and his words are not heard; notwithstanding such a flagrant instance and example as this just mentioned; yet men still retain their prejudices against a poor man, and despise his wise counsels and advice, for no other reason but because he is poor, and will not attend to what he says: or, "though the poor man's wisdom", &c. (k), as Aben Ezra; Solomon drew the above conclusion from that instance; though this is usually the case, that men despise the wisdom of a poor man, and will not listen to his advice, this did not lessen the wise man's opinion of it. The words may be rendered, "even the poor man's wisdom despised, and his words not heard" (l); these are better than outward force and strength, and more serviceable and useful; which the Septuagint version favours: the Vulgate Latin version renders it, "how is the poor man's wisdom despised!" &c. as wondering at it that so it should be, when so much profit and advantage arose to the city from it.
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(k) "quamvis sapientia", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Mercerus, Gejerus, Amama; "etsi", Drusius. (l) "Et pauperis sapientiam contemptam", &c. Tigurine version.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 16. The poor man's wisdom is despised, and…
Verse 16. The poor man's wisdom is despised, and his words are not heard.] I cannot help pursuing this illustration a little farther. The soldier who found Archimedes busily employed in drawing figures upon the sand, put to him some impertinent question, withal rudely obtruding himself on his operations. To whom this wonderful mathematician replied, "Stand off, soldier, and do not spoil my diagram;" on which the bloody savage struck him dead!
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Heard? Ecclesiasticus xiii. 28. Men are so unjust as…
Heard? Ecclesiasticus xiii. 28. Men are so unjust as to despise wisdom, if it be in a poor man. The prudence of an individual has often saved cities, as was the case at Abela, and Bethulia; (2 Kings xx. 22.; Calmet) and Syracuse was defended a long time by Archimedes against the whole Roman army. (Plut.[Plutarch?] in Marcel.)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain Resuming the sentiment (Ecc 7:19; Pro 21:22; Pro 24:5).
Resuming the sentiment (Ecc 7:19; Pro 21:22; Pro 24:5).
poor man's wisdom is despised--not the poor man mentioned in Ecc 9:15; for his wisdom could not have saved the city, had "his words not been heard"; but poor men in general. So Paul (Act 27:11).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 16. Wisdom is despised — In this instance, favour…
16. Wisdom is despised — In this instance, favour did not come to the man of skill. One can hardly avoid adding, though it is foreign to Koheleth’s present line of thought, that wisdom is largely its own conscious reward. even while it ministers, and is not ministered to.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 16. Wisdom is better than strength] The maxim of…
16. Wisdom is better than strength] The maxim of ch. Ecc_7:19 is reproduced, but it is traversed by the fact that the wisdom must often be content to remain unrecognised. The power of the purse too often prevails against the wisdom of the poor. At the best, often, in words already quoted (Ecc_9:11),
“Probitas laudatur et alget.”
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“Virtue is praised, and left out in the cold.”
Juvenal, Sat. i. 74.
The marginal reference in the A. V. to Mar_6:2-3 is not without significance as indicating the highest illustration of the maxim, in the question which asked “Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is he not himself a carpenter?” The chief butler’s forgetfulness of Joseph (Gen_40:23) supplies another obvious parallel.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Then said I, Wisdom is better than strength. The…
Then said I, Wisdom is better than strength. The latter part of the verse is not a correction of the former, but the whole comes under the observation introduced by "I said." The story just related leads to this assertion, which reproduces the gnome of Ecc_7:19, wherein it is asserted that wisdom effects more than mere physical strength. There is an interpolation in the Old Latin Version of Wisd. 6. I which seems to have been compiled from this passage and Pro_16:13, "Melter est sapientia quam vires, et vir prudens quam fortis." Nevertheless the poor man"s wisdom is despised, etc. In the instance above mentioned the poor man"s wisdom was not despised and his words were heard and attended to; but this was an abnormal case, occasioned by the extremity of the peril. Koheleth states the result which usually attends wisdom emanating from a disesteemed source. The experience of Ben-Sire pointed to the same issue (see Ecc 13:22, Ecc 13:23). Horace, "Epist.," 1:1.57
Est animus tibi, sunt mores et lingua fidesque, Sed quadringentis sex septem millia desunt; Plebs erie.
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In wit, worth, honor, one in vain abounds; If of the knight"s estate he lack ten pounds, He"s low, quite low! (Howes. )
"Is not this the carpenter"s Son?" asked the people who were offended at Christ. (Mar_6:2, 3)
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 the poor man's wisdom is despised
the poor man's wisdom is despised
This can be stated in active form. AT: "people despise the poor man's wisdom" (See: Active or Passive)
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his words are not heard
this can be stated in active form. AT: "they do not listen to what he says" or "they do not take his advice" (See: Active or Passive)
translationWords
wise
strength
word
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.