Ecclesiastes 9:12-18

¹²Surely, no one knows when his time will come. As fish are caught in a deadly net, or birds are caught in a snare, the children of human beings are ensnared by evil times that suddenly fall upon them.

¹³I have also seen wisdom under the sun in a way that seemed great to me.

¹⁴There was a small city with only a few men in it, and a great king came against it and besieged it and built great siege ramps against it.

¹⁵Now in the city was found a poor, wise man, who by his wisdom saved the city. Yet later, no one remembered that same poor man.

¹⁶So I concluded, “Wisdom is better than strength, but the poor man's wisdom is despised, and his words are not heard.”

¹⁷The words of wise people spoken quietly are heard better than the shouts of any ruler among fools.

¹⁸Wisdom is better than weapons of war, but one sinner can ruin much good.