Ecclesiastes 9:12
You can't predict when your end will come. Just like fish caught in a net, or birds caught in a trap, so people are suddenly caught by death when they least expect it.
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In Context
13Here's another aspect of wisdom that impressed me about what happens here on earth.
Cross References
Psalms 11:6He will make blazing coals and sulfur rain down on the wicked; a scorching wind is what's coming on them.
Psalms 73:19How quickly they're destroyed! They come to a terrifying end.
Proverbs 7:22He followed her right away, like an ox to the slaughter. Like a stag that's caught in a snare
Proverbs 29:6Evil people are trapped by their own sins, but those who do right sing and celebrate.
Ecclesiastes 8:8No one can hold onto the breath of life; no one can prevent the day when they die. There's no way of escaping that battle, and the wicked won't be saved by their wickedness!
Isaiah 30:13your punishment will suddenly fall on you, like a high wall that bulges out and collapses 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 →