Bible Strands
Ecclesiastes 9:13
I have also seen this wisdom under the sun, and it was great to me:
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The teacher addresses the readers of Ecclesiastes at the transition between a general observation about sudden disaster and the opening of a specific parable about a besieged city.
The words — The terms חָכְמָה (chokhmah, wisdom) and תַּחַת הַשָּׁמֶשׁ (tachat hashemesh, under the sun) frame the verse as a grounded observation of human experience rather than a divine revelation.
The thread — The author’s “I have seen under the sun” formula appears in Ecclesiastes 6:1, 7:15, and 8:16 to catalog paradoxes and labors encountered in earthly life.
Why it lands — The text records the speaker’s personal valuation of wisdom before immediately introducing a crisis narrative, requiring the reader to assess how theoretical insight functions when confronted with immediate, overwhelming force.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
This wisdom have I seen also under the sun, and it seemed great unto me:
Cross-references
- Ecclesiastes 8:16 When I applied my mind to know wisdom and to observe the task that one performs on the earth—though his eyes do not see sleep in the day or even in the night—
- Ecclesiastes 6:1 There is another evil I have seen under the sun, and it weighs heavily upon mankind:
- Ecclesiastes 7:15 In my futile life I have seen both of these: A righteous man perishing in his righteousness, and a wicked man living long in his wickedness.
- Ecclesiastes 9:11 I saw something else under the sun: The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong; neither is the bread to the wise, nor the wealth to the intelligent, nor the favor to the skillful. For time and chance happen to all.