What Does Ecclesiastes 9:16 Mean in the King James?
Then said I, Wisdom is better than strength: nevertheless the poor man’s wisdom is despised, and his words are not heard.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
Being unheard measures the room’s judgment of the speaker, not the worth of the wisdom.
THE MEANING
Wisdom can exceed force, yet its carrier can be discounted before the words are received. When poverty makes a speaker seem negligible, the silence reveals the hearers’ judgment, not the measure of the wisdom itself.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie is that being unheard proves a person has nothing worth hearing; this verse separates the worth of wisdom from the status granted to its speaker.
THE ROOT
נִשְׁמָעִים
nishma’im
GROWS FROM
שמע
sh-m-ʿ
To hear, listen to, or heed.
The form says the poor man’s words do not get heard or heeded. The Hebrew root can carry the sense of listening responsively, so the verse exposes a gatekeeping act: wisdom may be present while its audience refuses to receive it.
ALSO GROWS
shama: To hear or listen.
שָׁמַע
It is the verb behind the verse’s “heard,” making the failure of reception visible.
shomea: One who hears or listens.
שֹׁמֵעַ
The branch draws attention to the listener: the words’ reception depends on someone being willing to hear.
בְּזוּיָה
bezuyah
GROWS FROM
בזה
b-z-h
To despise or treat as worthless.
“despised” in this verse is bezuyah. The contempt falls on the poor man’s wisdom, not on a lack of wisdom. The root shows how an audience can assign worthlessness to insight because of the person carrying it.
ALSO GROWS
bazah: To despise or hold in contempt.
בָּזָה
This verbal form makes the dismissal an act of judgment by others.
bizayon: Contempt or disgrace.
בִּזָּיוֹן
This noun names the social dishonor surrounding the wisdom, rather than any flaw in the wisdom itself.
חָכְמָה
chokhmah
GROWS FROM
חכם
ḥ-k-m
To be wise or skillful.
“wisdom” in this verse is chokhmah. Chokhmah can name skilled competence, including the skillful work described in Exodus 31:3, not only clever thought. Here that capacity is called better than strength, even while the poor person who carries it is disregarded.
ALSO GROWS
chakam: Wise or skillful; a wise person.
חָכָם
It shows wisdom as a quality a person carries, even when others fail to recognize it.
chokhmah: Wisdom or skill.
חָכְמָה
The same word names the capacity that the verse places above physical might.
THE PATTERN
People often let visible standing decide whom they hear, so wisdom can be present without receiving recognition.
Better is a poor and a wise child than an old and foolish king, who will no more be admonished.But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.And ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place; and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool:THE THREAD
The righteous cry, and the LORD heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles.Ecclesiastes says the poor man’s words do not get heard; Psalm 34:17 uses the same Hebrew root, שמע (shama, “hear”), when the LORD hears a cry. The shared verb sets human disregard beside divine attention, so being unheard by people is not the only measure of whether a voice is received.
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