Bible Strands
Ecclesiastes 9:14
There was a small city with few men. A mighty king came against it, surrounded it, and built large siege ramps against it.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The Preacher addresses readers under the sun by framing a hypothetical scenario of a vulnerable city facing a powerful invading force. He introduces this illustration immediately before noting that a poor wise man will later rescue the city.
The words — קְטַנָּה (qĕṭannâ) and מְעַט (mĕʿaṭ) literally render "small" and "few," establishing the city's extreme lack of resources. מֶלֶךְ גָּדוֹל (melekh gādôl) translates to "great king," marking the overwhelming military power arrayed against the settlement.
The thread — This siege imagery directly parallels the military campaigns described in 2 Samuel 20:15 and 2 Kings 6:24. The same urban vulnerability motif frames the immediate context in Ecclesiastes 9:13 and 9:15.
Why it lands — The text asks a reader to acknowledge that numerical disadvantage does not automatically dictate defeat. It requires confronting the reality that deliverance often arrives through unexpected, uncelebrated means rather than conventional strength.
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
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:
Cross-references
- 2 Samuel 20:15 And Joab’s troops came and besieged Sheba in Abel-beth-maacah and built a siege ramp against the outer rampart of the city. As all the troops with Joab were battering the wall to topple it,
- 2 Kings 6:24 Some time later, Ben-hadad king of Aram assembled his entire army and marched up to besiege Samaria.