Pengkhotbah 7:19

Wisdom Needed Because No One is Truly Righteous

7:19 Wisdom gives a wise person more protection ¹ 

than ten rulers in a city.

Pengkhotbah 9:13-14

Most People Are Not Receptive to Wise Counsel

9:13 This is what I also observed about wisdom on earth, ² 

and it is a great burden ³  to me:

9:14 There was once ⁴  a small city with a few men in it,

and a mighty king attacked it, besieging ⁵  it and building strong ⁶  siege works against it.

[7:19]  ¹ tn Heb “gives strength.”

[9:13]  ² tn Heb “under the sun.”

[9:13]  ³ tn The term “burden” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity.

[9:14]  ⁴ tn The verbs in this section function either as past definite actions (describing a past situation) or as hypothetical past actions (describing an imaginary hypothetical situation for the sake of illustration). The LXX uses subjunctives throughout vv. 14-15 to depict the scenario as a hypothetical situation: “Suppose there was a little city, and a few men [lived] in it; and there should come against it a great king, and surround it, and build great siege-works against it; and should find in it a poor wise man, and he should save the city through his wisdom; yet no man would remember that poor man.”

[9:14]  ⁵ tn The two perfect tense verbs וְסָבַב (vÿsavav, “he besieged”) and וּבָנָה (uvanah, “he built”) may be taken in a complementary sense, qualifying the action of the main perfect tense verb וּבָא (uva’, “he attacked it”).

[9:14]  ⁶ tn The root גדל (“mighty; strong; large”) is repeated in 9:13b for emphasis: “a mighty (גָדוֹל, gadol) king…building strong (גְדֹלִים, gÿdolim) siege works.” This repetition highlights the contrast between the vast power and resources of the attacking king, and the meager resources of the “little” (קְטַנָּה, qÿtannah) city with “few” (מְעָט, mÿ’at) men in it to defend it.