11. I turned me to another thing, and I saw that under the sun, the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to the learned, nor favour to the skilful: but time and chance in all.
12. Man knoweth not his own end: but as fishes are taken with the hook, and as birds are caught with the snare, so men are taken in the evil time, when it shall suddenly come upon them.
13. This wisdom also I have seen under the sun, and it seemed to me to be very great:
14. A little city, and few men in it: there came against it a great king, and invested it, and built bulwarks round about it, and the siege was perfect.
15. Now there was found in it a man poor and wise, and he delivered the city by his wisdom, and no man afterward remembered that poor man.
16. And I said that wisdom is better than strength: how then is the wisdom of the poor man slighted, and his words not heard?
17. The words of the wise are heard in silence, more than the cry of a prince among fools.
18. Better is wisdom, than weapons of war: and he that shall offend in one, shall lose many good things.