Ecclesiastes 9:15

Now a poor wise man was found in the city, and he saved the city by his wisdom. Yet no one remembered that poor man.

Berean Standard Bible

Study note

Setting — The narrator describes a parabolic scenario in which a mighty king besieges a small city with few defenders, immediately before reflecting on the outcome for the man who resolves the crisis.

The words — מִסְכֵּן (misken, "poor") and חָכָ֔ם (chakham, "wise") jointly identify the rescuer, while מִלַּט (milat, "delivered") records his successful intervention against the siege.

The thread — The pattern of an uncredited savior recurs in Genesis 40:23 when the cupbearer forgets Joseph, and the tension between low-status wisdom and high-status folly is mirrored in Ecclesiastes 4:13.

Why it lands — The text requires the reader to accept that effective wisdom frequently operates without institutional acknowledgment, leaving the deliverer unremembered despite his decisive action.

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

וּמָ֣צָאu./Ma.tza'and/ someone foundבָ֗הּVa/hin <the>/ itאִ֤ישׁ'isha man מִסְכֵּן֙mis.Kenpoor חָכָ֔םcha.Khamwise וּמִלַּט־u./mi.lat-and/ he delivered ה֥וּאhu'he אֶת־'et-<obj.>הָעִ֖ירha./'Irthe/ city בְּחָכְמָת֑וֹbe./cha.khe.ma.T/oby/ wisdom/ his וְאָדָם֙ve./'a.Damand/ anyone לֹ֣אlo'not זָכַ֔רza.Kharhe remembered אֶת־'et-<obj.>הָאִ֥ישׁha./'Ishthe/ man הַמִּסְכֵּ֖ןha./mis.Ken<the>/ poor הַהּֽוּא׃ha./Hu'<the>/ that

King James Version

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.

Cross-references

Genesis 40:23 The chief cupbearer, however, did not remember Joseph; he forgot all about him.
Ecclesiastes 4:13 Better is a poor but wise youth than an old but foolish king who no longer knows how to take a warning.
Esther 6:2 And there it was found recorded that Mordecai had exposed Bigthana and Teresh, two of the eunuchs who guarded the king’s entrance, when they had conspired to assassinate King Xerxes.
2 Samuel 20:22 Then the woman went to all the people with her wise counsel, and they cut off the head of Sheba son of Bichri and threw it to Joab. So he blew the ram’s horn and his men dispersed from the city, each to his own home. And Joab returned to the king in Jerusalem.
Ecclesiastes 2:16 For there is no lasting remembrance of the wise, just as with the fool, seeing that both will be forgotten in the days to come. Alas, the wise man will die just like the fool!