Ecclesiastes Chapter 9 verse 18 Holy Bible
Wisdom is better than weapons of war; but one sinner destroyeth much good.
read chapter 9 in ASV
Wisdom is better than instruments of war, but one sinner is the destruction of much good.
read chapter 9 in BBE
Wisdom is better than weapons of war; but one sinner destroyeth much good.
read chapter 9 in DARBY
Wisdom is better than weapons of war: but one sinner destroyeth much good.
read chapter 9 in KJV
read chapter 9 in WBT
Wisdom is better than weapons of war; but one sinner destroys much good.
read chapter 9 in WEB
Better `is' wisdom than weapons of conflict, And one sinner destroyeth much good!
read chapter 9 in YLT
Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerse 18. - Wisdom is better than weapons of war. Such is the moral which Koheleth desires to draw from the little narrative given above (see vers. 14-16; and Ecclesiastes 7:19). Wisdom can do what no material force can effect, and often produces results which all the implements of war could not command. But one sinner destroyeth much good. The happy consequences which the wise man's counsel might accomplish, or has already accomplished, may be overthrown or rendered useless by the villany or perversity of a bad man. The Vulgate, reading differently, has, Qui in uno peccaverit, multa bona perdet. But this seems to be out of keeping with the context. Adam's sin infected the whole race of man; Achau's transgression caused Israel's defeat (Joshua 7:11, 12); Rehoboam's folly occasioned the great schism (1 Kings 12:16). The wide° reaching effects of one little error are illustrated by the proverbial saying which every one knows, and which runs in Latin thus: "Clavus unus perdit equi soleam, soles equum, equus equitem, eques castra, castro rempublicam."
