Ecclesiastes 9:12

American Standard Version (1901)

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, even so are the sons of men snared in an evil time, when it falleth suddenly upon them.

Additional Resources

Referenced Verses

  • Prov 29:6 : 6 In the transgression of an evil man there is a snare; But the righteous doth sing and rejoice.
  • Eccl 8:5-7 : 5 Whoso keepeth the commandment shall know no evil thing; and a wise man's heart discerneth time and judgment: 6 for to every purpose there is a time and judgment; because the misery of man is great upon him: 7 for he knoweth not that which shall be; for who can tell him how it shall be?
  • 1 Thess 5:3 : 3 When they are saying, Peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall in no wise escape.
  • Luke 21:34-36 : 34 But take heed to yourselves, lest haply your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that day come on you suddenly as a snare: 35 for [so] shall it come upon all them that dwell on the face of all the earth. 36 But watch ye at every season, making supplication, that ye may prevail to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.
  • 2 Cor 6:2 : 2 (for he saith, At an acceptable time I hearkened unto thee, And in a day of salvation did I succor thee: behold, now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation):
  • 2 Tim 2:26 : 26 and they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him unto his will.
  • 1 Pet 2:12 : 12 having your behavior seemly among the Gentiles; that, wherein they speak against you as evil-doers, they may by your good works, which they behold, glorify God in the day of visitation.
  • 2 Pet 2:12 : 12 But these, as creatures without reason, born mere animals to be taken and destroyed, railing in matters whereof they are ignorant, shall in their destroying surely be destroyed,
  • Job 18:8-9 : 8 For he is cast into a net by his own feet, And he walketh upon the toils. 9 A gin shall take [him] by the heel, [And] a snare shall lay hold on him. 10 A noose is hid for him in the ground, And a trap for him in the way.
  • Ps 11:6 : 6 Upon the wicked he will rain snares; Fire and brimstone and burning wind shall be the portion of their cup.
  • Ps 73:18-20 : 18 Surely thou settest them in slippery places: Thou castest them down to destruction. 19 How are they become a desolation in a moment! They are utterly consumed with terrors. 20 As a dream when one awaketh, So, O Lord, when thou awakest, thou wilt despise their image.
  • Prov 6:15 : 15 Therefore shall his calamity come suddenly; On a sudden shall he be broken, and that without remedy.
  • Prov 7:22-23 : 22 He goeth after her straightway, As an ox goeth to the slaughter, Or as [one in] fetters to the correction of the fool; 23 Till an arrow strike through his liver; As a bird hasteth to the snare, And knoweth not that it is for his life.
  • Eccl 8:11 : 11 Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.
  • Isa 30:13 : 13 therefore this iniquity shall be to you as a breach ready to fall, swelling out in a high wall, whose breaking cometh suddenly in an instant.
  • Hab 1:14-17 : 14 and makest men as the fishes of the sea, as the creeping things, that have no ruler over them? 15 He taketh up all of them with the angle, he catcheth them in his net, and gathereth them in his drag: therefore he rejoiceth and is glad. 16 Therefore he sacrificeth unto his net, and burneth incense unto his drag; because by them his portion is fat, and his food plenteous. 17 Shall he therefore empty his net, and spare not to slay the nations continually?
  • Luke 12:20 : 20 But God said unto him, Thou foolish one, this night is thy soul required of thee; and the things which thou hast prepared, whose shall they be?
  • Luke 12:39 : 39 But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what hour the thief was coming, he would have watched, and not have left his house to be broken through. [
  • Luke 17:26-31 : 26 And as it came to pass in the days of Noah, even so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. 27 They ate, they drank, they married, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all. 28 Likewise even as it came to pass in the days of Lot; they ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; 29 but in the day that Lot went out from Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all: 30 after the same manner shall it be in the day that the Son of man is revealed. 31 In that day, he that shall be on the housetop, and his goods in the house, let him not go down to take them away: and let him that is in the field likewise not return back.
  • Luke 19:42-44 : 42 saying, If thou hadst known in this day, even thou, the things which belong unto peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes. 43 For the days shall come upon thee, when thine enemies shall cast up a bank about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, 44 and shall dash thee to the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation.

Similar Verses (AI)

These verses are found using AI-powered semantic similarity based on meaning and context. Results may occasionally include unexpected connections.

  • Eccl 9:11
    80%

    11I 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 favor to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all.

  • Eccl 8:6-9
    4 verses
    76%

    6for to every purpose there is a time and judgment; because the misery of man is great upon him:

    7for he knoweth not that which shall be; for who can tell him how it shall be?

    8There is no man that hath power over the spirit to retain the spirit; neither hath he power over the day of death; and there is no discharge in war: neither shall wickedness deliver him that is given to it.

    9All this have I seen, and applied my heart unto every work that is done under the sun: [there is] a time wherein one man hath power over another to his hurt.

  • Eccl 9:13
    75%

    13I have also seen wisdom under the sun on this wise, and it seemed great unto me:

  • Eccl 6:12
    73%

    12For who knoweth what is good for man in [his] life, all the days of his vain life which he spendeth as a shadow? for who can tell a man what shall be after him under the sun?

  • Prov 7:23
    73%

    23Till an arrow strike through his liver; As a bird hasteth to the snare, And knoweth not that it is for his life.

  • Prov 1:17
    73%

    17For in vain is the net spread In the sight of any bird:

  • Job 18:8-10
    3 verses
    72%

    8For he is cast into a net by his own feet, And he walketh upon the toils.

    9A gin shall take [him] by the heel, [And] a snare shall lay hold on him.

    10A noose is hid for him in the ground, And a trap for him in the way.

  • Hab 1:14-15
    2 verses
    72%

    14and makest men as the fishes of the sea, as the creeping things, that have no ruler over them?

    15He taketh up all of them with the angle, he catcheth them in his net, and gathereth them in his drag: therefore he rejoiceth and is glad.

  • Eccl 9:1-3
    3 verses
    72%

    1For all this I laid to my heart, even to explore all this: that the righteous, and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God; whether it be love or hatred, man knoweth it not; all is before them.

    2All things come alike to all: there is one event to the righteous and to the wicked; to the good and to the clean and to the unclean; to him that sacrificeth and to him that sacrificeth not; as is the good, so is the sinner; [and] he that sweareth, as he that feareth an oath.

    3This is an evil in all that is done under the sun, that there is one event unto all: yea also, the heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live, and after that [they go] to the dead.

  • Amos 3:5
    72%

    5Can a bird fall in a snare upon the earth, where no gin is [set] for him? shall a snare spring up from the ground, and have taken nothing at all?

  • Eccl 3:18-19
    2 verses
    71%

    18I said in my heart, [It is] because of the sons of men, that God may prove them, and that they may see that they themselves are [but as] beasts.

    19For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; and man hath no preeminence above the beasts: for all is vanity.

  • Eccl 8:17
    71%

    17then I beheld all the work of God, that man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun: because however much a man labor to seek it out, yet he shall not find it; yea moreover, though a wise man think to know it, yet shall he not be able to find it.

  • Eccl 3:6
    71%

    6a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

  • Matt 24:39
    70%

    39and they knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall be the coming of the Son of man.

  • Jer 5:26
    70%

    26For among my people are found wicked men: they watch, as fowlers lie in wait; they set a trap, they catch men.

  • Ps 9:15
    70%

    15The nations are sunk down in the pit that they made: In the net which they hid is their own foot taken.

  • Job 22:10
    69%

    10Therefore snares are round about thee, And sudden fear troubleth thee,

  • Eccl 8:11
    69%

    11Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.

  • Ps 35:8
    69%

    8Let destruction come upon him unawares; And let his net that he hath hid catch himself: With destruction let him fall therein.

  • Ps 39:6
    69%

    6Surely every man walketh in a vain show; Surely they are disquieted in vain: He heapeth up [riches], and knoweth not who shall gather them.

  • Eccl 8:14
    69%

    14There is a vanity which is done upon the earth, that there are righteous men unto whom it happeneth according to the work of the wicked; again, there are wicked men to whom it happeneth according to the work of the righteous: I said that this also is vanity.

  • Prov 24:22
    69%

    22For their calamity shall rise suddenly; And the destruction from them both, who knoweth it?

  • Eccl 3:2
    69%

    2a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;

  • Eccl 3:10-12
    3 verses
    69%

    10I have seen the travail which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised therewith.

    11He hath made everything beautiful in its time: also he hath set eternity in their heart, yet so that man cannot find out the work that God hath done from the beginning even to the end.

    12I know that there is nothing better for them, than to rejoice, and to do good so long as they live.

  • Isa 19:8
    69%

    8And the fishers shall lament, and all they that cast angle into the Nile shall mourn, and they that spread nets upon the waters shall languish.

  • Job 8:9
    69%

    9(For we are but of yesterday, and know nothing, Because our days upon earth are a shadow);

  • Eccl 6:1
    68%

    1There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, and it is heavy upon men:

  • Job 27:20
    68%

    20Terrors overtake him like waters; A tempest stealeth him away in the night.

  • Mark 13:33
    68%

    33Take ye heed, watch and pray: for ye know not when the time is.

  • Ps 10:9
    68%

    9He lurketh in secret as a lion in his covert; He lieth in wait to catch the poor: He doth catch the poor, when he draweth him in his net.

  • Job 7:1
    68%

    1Is there not a warfare to man upon earth? And are not his days like the days of a hireling?

  • Job 9:26
    68%

    26They are passed away as the swift ships; As the eagle that swoopeth on the prey.

  • Job 32:9
    68%

    9It is not the great that are wise, Nor the aged that understand justice.

  • Job 28:13
    68%

    13Man knoweth not the price thereof; Neither is it found in the land of the living.

  • Eccl 7:14
    68%

    14In the day of prosperity be joyful, and in the day of adversity consider; yea, God hath made the one side by side with the other, to the end that man should not find out anything [that shall be] after him.

  • Prov 27:8
    68%

    8As a bird that wandereth from her nest, So is a man that wandereth from his place.

  • Eccl 5:14
    68%

    14and those riches perish by evil adventure; and if he hath begotten a son, there is nothing in his hand.

  • Luke 21:35
    68%

    35for [so] shall it come upon all them that dwell on the face of all the earth.

  • Eccl 5:16
    68%

    16And this also is a grievous evil, that in all points as he came, so shall he go: and what profit hath he that he laboreth for the wind?