10 Whatever thy hand finds to do, do it with all thy might, for there is no work nor device nor knowledge nor wisdom in Sheol, where thou goest.
11 I returned and saw under the sun that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of prudence, nor yet grace to men of eloquence; but time and chance happens to them all.
12 For man also does not know his time: as the fishes that are taken in an evil net and as the birds that are caught in the snare, so are the sons of men snared in the evil time, when it falls suddenly upon them.
13 I have also seen this wisdom under the sun, which is important unto me:
14 There was a little city and few men within it; and a great king came against it and besieged it and built great bulwarks against it;
15 now there was found in it a poor wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city; yet no one remembered that same poor man.
16 Then I said, Wisdom is better than strength: even though the poor man’s knowledge is despised, and his words are not heard.