What Does Ecclesiastes 9:13 Mean?
This wisdom also I see under the sun, and it is great upon me.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
This wisdom have I seen also under the sun, and it seemed great unto me:THE KEY
Wisdom here is not a distant idea; it is something seen and recognized as great by the one who encounters it.
THE MEANING
The verse gives you a way to recognize wisdom: it comes into view through what can be seen and discerned. Its greatness is not an abstract label here; your perception registers it as great. The words “unto me” keep that recognition personal.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the assumption that wisdom is merely an idea held in the mind: here, wisdom is encountered and recognized.
THE ROOT
חָכְמָה
chokhmah
GROWS FROM
חכם
To be wise or exercise skill and discernment.
This root can describe wisdom, a wise person, and skillful work. The wisdom seen in this verse is therefore more than an idea: it can be discernment made visible in what someone does.
ALSO GROWS
chākām: A wise or skillful person.
חָכָם
The same root describes a person whose discernment is expressed in practice.
chākam: To become wise or act wisely.
חָכַם
The verb presents wisdom as something exercised, fitting the verse’s emphasis on seeing it.
chokhmat-lev: Wisdom or skill of heart, including practical craftsmanship.
חָכְמַת־לֵב
This phrase is used for skillful work, showing that wisdom can be recognized in what a person makes.
גְּדוֹלָה
gedolah
GROWS FROM
גדל
To grow, become great, or increase.
“is great upon me” in this verse is gedolah. The word translated “great” belongs to a root of growth and increase. The verse presents wisdom as something whose scale becomes apparent to the person who sees it.
ALSO GROWS
gadal: To grow or become great.
גָּדַל
This verb gives “great” the sense of something reaching a larger scale.
gadol: Great or large.
גָּדוֹל
This related form shows the same root describing size or magnitude.
migdal: Tower.
מִגְדָּל
A tower is something that rises high; the related word gives a concrete image of growth into visible height.
THE PATTERN
Wisdom becomes recognizable through what it enables a person to do and say.
And all Israel heard of the judgment which the king had judged; and they feared the king, for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him, to do judgment.Who among you is wise and knowing? Let him show his works from a good walk, in the tamed gentleness of wisdom.She opens her mouth in wisdom, and the instruction of faithful love is on her tongue.THE THREAD
And all Israel heard of the judgment which the king had judged; and they feared the king, for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him, to do judgment.The same Hebrew word חָכְמָה (chokhmah, wisdom) names what is seen here and what is recognized there. The second verse makes the first one concrete: wisdom comes into view as discernment expressed in judgment.
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