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Ecclesiastes 9:15-17
The Message
Ecclesiastes 9:15-17
The Message
Wisdom Is Better than Muscle
13-15 One day as I was observing how wisdom fares on this earth, I saw something that made me sit up and take notice. There was a small town with only a few people in it. A strong king came and mounted an attack, building trenches and attack posts around it. There was a poor but wise man in that town whose wisdom saved the town, but he was promptly forgotten. (He was only a poor man, after all.)
16 All the same, I still say that wisdom is better than muscle, even though the wise poor man was treated with contempt and soon forgotten.
17 The quiet words of the wise are more effective
Than the ranting of a king of fools.
Ecclesiastes 9:15-17
New International Version
Ecclesiastes 9:15-17
New International Version
15 Now there lived in that city a man poor but wise, and he saved the city by his wisdom. But nobody remembered that poor man.(A) 16 So I said, “Wisdom is better than strength.” But the poor man’s wisdom is despised, and his words are no longer heeded.(B)
17 The quiet words of the wise are more to be heeded
than the shouts of a ruler of fools.
The Message (MSG)
Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson
New International Version (NIV) 
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