Ecclesiastes 9:12
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, even so are the sons of men snared in an evil time when it falls suddenly upon them.
A Conservative Version
In The King James Version
In Context
13I have also seen wisdom under the sun this way, and it seemed great to me:
Cross References
Psalms 11:6He will rain snares upon sinners. Fire and brimstone and burning wind shall be the portion of their cup.
Psalms 73:19How they have become a desolation in a moment! They are utterly consumed with terrors.
Proverbs 7:22He goes after her straightaway, as an ox goes to the slaughter, or as a fool to the correction of the stocks,
Proverbs 29:6In the transgression of an evil man there is a snare, but a righteous man sings and rejoices.
Ecclesiastes 8:8There is no man who has power over the spirit to retain the spirit, nor has he power over the day of death. And there is no discharge in war. Neither shall wickedness deliver him who is given to it.
Isaiah 30:13therefore this iniquity shall be to you as a breach ready to fall, swelling out in a high wall, whose breaking comes suddenly in an instant.
Matthew Henry on Ecclesiastes 9:12-13
The Disappointment of Hopes. 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 understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all. 12 For man also knoweth not 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 an evil time, when it falleth suddenly upon them. The preacher here, for a… Read the whole commentary →