Ecclesiastes 7:19
New International Version
Wisdom makes one wise person more powerful than ten rulers in a city.

New Living Translation
One wise person is stronger than ten leading citizens of a town!

English Standard Version
Wisdom gives strength to the wise man more than ten rulers who are in a city.

Berean Standard Bible
Wisdom makes the wise man stronger than ten rulers in a city.

King James Bible
Wisdom strengtheneth the wise more than ten mighty men which are in the city.

New King James Version
Wisdom strengthens the wise More than ten rulers of the city.

New American Standard Bible
Wisdom strengthens a wise person more than ten rulers who are in a city.

NASB 1995
Wisdom strengthens a wise man more than ten rulers who are in a city.

NASB 1977
Wisdom strengthens a wise man more than ten rulers who are in a city.

Legacy Standard Bible
Wisdom strengthens a wise man more than ten men with power who are in a city.

Amplified Bible
Wisdom strengthens the wise man more than ten rulers who are in a city.

Christian Standard Bible
Wisdom makes the wise person stronger than ten rulers of a city.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
Wisdom makes the wise man stronger than ten rulers of a city.

American Standard Version
Wisdom is a strength to the wise man more than ten rulers that are in a city.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
Wisdom strengthens the wise more than ten rulers who are in the city

Brenton Septuagint Translation
Wisdom will help the wise man more than ten mighty men which are in the city.

Contemporary English Version
Wisdom will make you stronger than the ten most powerful leaders in your city.

Douay-Rheims Bible
Wisdom hath strengthened the wise more than ten princes of the city.

English Revised Version
Wisdom is a strength to the wise man more than ten rulers which are in a city.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
Wisdom will help a wise person more than ten rulers can help a city.

Good News Translation
Wisdom does more for a person than ten rulers can do for a city.

International Standard Version
Wisdom given as strength to a wise person is better than having ten powerful men in the city.

JPS Tanakh 1917
Wisdom is a stronghold to the wise man more than ten rulers that are in a city.

Literal Standard Version
The wisdom gives strength to a wise man, more than wealth the rulers who have been in a city.

Majority Standard Bible
Wisdom makes the wise man stronger than ten rulers in a city.

New American Bible
Wisdom is a better defense for the wise than ten princes in the city,

NET Bible
Wisdom gives a wise person more protection than ten rulers in a city.

New Revised Standard Version
Wisdom gives strength to the wise more than ten rulers that are in a city.

New Heart English Bible
Wisdom is a strength to the wise man more than ten rulers who are in a city.

Webster's Bible Translation
Wisdom strengtheneth the wise more than ten mighty men who are in the city.

World English Bible
Wisdom is a strength to the wise man more than ten rulers who are in a city.

Young's Literal Translation
The wisdom giveth strength to a wise man, more than wealth the rulers who have been in a city.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
The Limits of Human Wisdom
18It is good to grasp the one and not let the other slip from your hand. For he who fears God will follow both warnings. 19Wisdom makes the wise man stronger than ten rulers in a city. 20Surely there is no righteous man on earth who does good and never sins.…

Cross References
Proverbs 8:14
Counsel and sound judgment are mine; I have insight and strength.

Proverbs 21:22
A wise man scales the city of the mighty and pulls down the stronghold in which they trust.

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.

Ecclesiastes 7:12
For wisdom, like money, is a shelter, and the advantage of knowledge is that wisdom preserves the life of its owner.

Ecclesiastes 9:13
I have also seen this wisdom under the sun, and it was great to me:

Ecclesiastes 9:16
And I said, "Wisdom is better than strength, but the wisdom of the poor man is despised, and his words are not heeded."


Treasury of Scripture

Wisdom strengthens the wise more than ten mighty men which are in the city.

Ecclesiastes 9:15-18
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…

2 Samuel 20:16-22
Then cried a wise woman out of the city, Hear, hear; say, I pray you, unto Joab, Come near hither, that I may speak with thee…

Proverbs 21:22
A wise man scaleth the city of the mighty, and casteth down the strength of the confidence thereof.

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Ecclesiastes 7
1. remedies against vanity are, a good name
2. mortification
7. patience
11. wisdom
23. The difficulty of wisdom














(19) Mighty men.--The word is translated "governor" Genesis 42:6, and so see Ecclesiastes 10:5; see also Ecclesiastes 8:8. The preacher returns to the topic of Ecclesiastes 7:12. Of the "For" in the next verse, only forced explanations have been given; the sentiment is Solomon's (1Kings 8:46).

Verse 19. - Wisdom strengtheneth the wise. The moderation enjoined is the only true wisdom, which, indeed, is the most powerful incentive and support. "Wisdom proves itself stronger" (as the verb is put intransitively) "to the wise man." Septuagint, βοηθήσει," will help;" Vulgate, confortuvit, "hath strengthened." The spiritual and moral force of the wisdom grounded upon the fear of God is here signified, and is all the more insisted upon to counteract any erroneous impression conveyed by the caution against over-wisdom in ver. 16 (see note on ver. 17, at the end). More than ten mighty men which are in the city. The number ten indicates completeness, containing in itself the whole arithmetical system, and used representatively for an indefinite multitude. Thus Job (Job 19:3) complains that his friends have reproached him ten times, and Elkanah asks his murmuring wife, "Am I not better to thee than ten sons?" (1 Samuel 1:8). Delitzsch thinks that some definite political arrangement is referred to, e.g., the dynasties placed by Persian kings over conquered countries; and Tyler notes that in the Mishna a city is defined to be a place containing ten men of leisure; and we know that ten men were required for the establishment of a synagogue in any locality. The same idea was present in the Angle-Saxon arrangement of tything and hundred. The number, however, is probably used indefinitely here as seven in the parallel passage of Ecclesiasticus (37:14), "A man's mind is sometime wont to tell him more than seven watchmen that sit above in a high tower." The sentence may be compared with Proverbs 10:15; Proverbs 21:22; Proverbs 24:5. The word rendered "mighty men" (shallitim) is not necessarily a military designation; it is translated "ruler" in Ecclesiastes 10:5, and "governor" in Genesis 42:6. The Septuagint here has Ἐξουσιάζοντας τοὺς ὄντας ἐν τῇ πόλει; the Vulgate, principes civitatis. The persons intended are not primarily men of valor in war, like David's heroes, but rulers of sagacity, prudent statesmen, whose moral force is far greater and more efficacious than any merely physical excellence (comp. Ecclesiastes 9:16).

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
Wisdom
הַֽחָכְמָ֖ה (ha·ḥā·ḵə·māh)
Article | Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 2451: Wisdom

makes the wise man
לֶחָכָ֑ם (le·ḥā·ḵām)
Preposition-l, Article | Adjective - masculine singular
Strong's 2450: Wise

stronger than
תָּעֹ֣ז (tā·‘ōz)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect - third person feminine singular
Strong's 5810: To be strong

ten
מֵֽעֲשָׂרָה֙ (mê·‘ă·śā·rāh)
Preposition-m | Number - masculine singular
Strong's 6235: Ten

rulers
שַׁלִּיטִ֔ים (šal·lî·ṭîm)
Adjective - masculine plural
Strong's 7989: Having mastery, domineering

in a city.
בָּעִֽיר׃ (bā·‘îr)
Preposition-b, Article | Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 5892: Excitement


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OT Poetry: Ecclesiastes 7:19 Wisdom is a strength to the wise (Ecclesiast. Ec Ecc Eccles.)
Ecclesiastes 7:18
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