Ecclesiastes 9:12

NET Bible® (New English Translation)

Surely, no one knows his appointed time! Like fish that are caught in a deadly net, and like birds that are caught in a snare– just like them, all people are ensnared at an unfortunate time that falls upon them suddenly.

Additional Resources

Referenced Verses

  • Prov 29:6 : 6 In the transgression of an evil person there is a snare, but a righteous person can sing and rejoice.
  • Eccl 8:5-7 : 5 Whoever obeys his command will not experience harm, and a wise person knows the proper time and procedure. 6 For there is a proper time and procedure for every matter, for the oppression of the king is severe upon his victim. 7 Surely no one knows the future, and no one can tell another person what will happen.
  • 1 Thess 5:3 : 3 Now when they are saying,“There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction comes on them, like labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will surely not escape.
  • Luke 21:34-36 : 34 Be Ready!“But be on your guard so that your hearts are not weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life, and that day close down upon you suddenly like a trap. 35 For it will overtake all who live on the face of the whole earth. 36 But stay alert at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that must happen, and to stand before the Son of Man.”
  • 2 Cor 6:2 : 2 For he says,“I heard you at the acceptable time, and in the day of salvation I helped you.” Look, now is the acceptable time; look, now is the day of salvation!
  • 2 Tim 2:26 : 26 and they will come to their senses and escape the devil’s trap where they are held captive to do his will.
  • 1 Pet 2:12 : 12 and maintain good conduct among the non-Christians, so that though they now malign you as wrongdoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God when he appears.
  • 2 Pet 2:12 : 12 But these men, like irrational animals– creatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed– do not understand whom they are insulting, and consequently in their destruction they will be destroyed,
  • Job 18:8-9 : 8 For he has been thrown into a net by his feet and he wanders into a mesh. 9 A trap seizes him by the heel; a snare grips him. 10 A rope is hidden for him on the ground and a trap for him lies on the path.
  • Ps 11:6 : 6 May he rain down burning coals and brimstone on the wicked! A whirlwind is what they deserve!
  • Ps 73:18-20 : 18 Surely you put them in slippery places; you bring them down to ruin. 19 How desolate they become in a mere moment! Terrifying judgments make their demise complete! 20 They are like a dream after one wakes up. O Lord, when you awake you will despise them.
  • Prov 6:15 : 15 Therefore, his disaster will come suddenly; in an instant he will be broken, and there will be no remedy.
  • Prov 7:22-23 : 22 Suddenly he was going after her like an ox that goes to the slaughter, like a stag prancing into a trapper’s snare 23 till an arrow pierces his liver– like a bird hurrying into a trap, and he does not know that it will cost him his life.
  • Eccl 8:11 : 11 When a sentence is not executed at once against a crime, the human heart is encouraged to do evil.
  • Isa 30:13 : 13 So this sin will become your downfall. You will be like a high wall that bulges and cracks and is ready to collapse; it crumbles suddenly, in a flash.
  • Hab 1:14-17 : 14 You made people like fish in the sea, like animals in the sea that have no ruler. 15 The Babylonian tyrant pulls them all up with a fishhook; he hauls them in with his throw net. When he catches them in his dragnet, he is very happy. 16 Because of his success he offers sacrifices to his throw net and burns incense to his dragnet; for because of them he has plenty of food, and more than enough to eat. 17 Will he then continue to fill and empty his throw net? Will he always destroy nations and spare none?
  • Luke 12:20 : 20 But God said to him,‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded back from you, but who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’
  • Luke 12:39 : 39 But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into.
  • Luke 17:26-31 : 26 Just as it was in the days of Noah, so too it will be in the days of the Son of Man. 27 People were eating, they were drinking, they were marrying, they were being given in marriage– right up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all. 28 Likewise, just as it was in the days of Lot, people were eating, drinking, buying, selling, planting, building; 29 but on the day Lot went out from Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all. 30 It will be the same on the day the Son of Man is revealed. 31 On that day, anyone who is on the roof, with his goods in the house, must not come down to take them away, and likewise the person in the field must not turn back.
  • Luke 19:42-44 : 42 saying,“If you had only known on this day, even you, the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. 43 For the days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and surround you and close in on you from every side. 44 They will demolish you– you and your children within your walls– and they will not leave within you one stone on top of another, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation from God.”

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%

    11Wisdom Cannot Protect against Seemingly Chance Events Again, I observed this on the earth: the race is not always won by the swiftest, the battle is not always won by the strongest; prosperity does not always belong to those who are the wisest, wealth does not always belong to those who are the most discerning, nor does success always come to those with the most knowledge– for time and chance may overcome them all.

  • Eccl 8:6-9
    4 verses
    76%

    6For there is a proper time and procedure for every matter, for the oppression of the king is severe upon his victim.

    7Surely no one knows the future, and no one can tell another person what will happen.

    8Just as no one has power over the wind to restrain it, so no one has power over the day of his death. Just as no one can be discharged during the battle, so wickedness cannot rescue the wicked.

    9While applying my mind to everything that happens in this world, I have seen all this: Sometimes one person dominates other people to their harm.

  • Eccl 9:13
    75%

    13Most People Are Not Receptive to Wise Counsel This is what I also observed about wisdom on earth, and it is a great burden to me:

  • Eccl 6:12
    73%

    12For no one knows what is best for a person during his life– during the few days of his fleeting life– for they pass away like a shadow. Nor can anyone tell him what the future will hold for him on earth.

  • Prov 7:23
    73%

    23till an arrow pierces his liver– like a bird hurrying into a trap, and he does not know that it will cost him his life.

  • Prov 1:17
    73%

    17Surely it is futile to spread a net in plain sight of any bird,

  • Job 18:8-10
    3 verses
    72%

    8For he has been thrown into a net by his feet and he wanders into a mesh.

    9A trap seizes him by the heel; a snare grips him.

    10A rope is hidden for him on the ground and a trap for him lies on the path.

  • Hab 1:14-15
    2 verses
    72%

    14You made people like fish in the sea, like animals in the sea that have no ruler.

    15The Babylonian tyrant pulls them all up with a fishhook; he hauls them in with his throw net. When he catches them in his dragnet, he is very happy.

  • Eccl 9:1-3
    3 verses
    72%

    1Everyone Will Die So I reflected on all this, attempting to clear it all up. I concluded that the righteous and the wise, as well as their works, are in the hand of God; whether a person will be loved or hated– no one knows what lies ahead.

    2Everyone shares the same fate– the righteous and the wicked, the good and the bad, the ceremonially clean and unclean, those who offer sacrifices and those who do not. What happens to the good person, also happens to the sinner; what happens to those who make vows, also happens to those who are afraid to make vows.

    3This is the unfortunate fact about everything that happens on earth: the same fate awaits everyone. In addition to this, the hearts of all people are full of evil, and there is folly in their hearts during their lives– then they die.

  • Amos 3:5
    72%

    5Does a bird swoop down into a trap on the ground if there is no bait? Does a trap spring up from the ground unless it has surely caught something?

  • Eccl 3:18-19
    2 verses
    71%

    18I also thought to myself,“It is for the sake of people, so God can clearly show them that they are like animals.

    19For the fate of humans and the fate of animals are the same: As one dies, so dies the other; both have the same breath. There is no advantage for humans over animals, for both are fleeting.

  • Eccl 8:17
    71%

    17then I discerned all that God has done: No one really comprehends what happens on earth. Despite all human efforts to discover it, no one can ever grasp it. Even if a wise person claimed that he understood, he would not really comprehend it.

  • Eccl 3:6
    71%

    6A time to search, and a time to give something up as lost; a time to keep, and a time to throw away;

  • Matt 24:39
    70%

    39And they knew nothing until the flood came and took them all away. It will be the same at the coming of the Son of Man.

  • Jer 5:26
    70%

    26“Indeed, there are wicked scoundrels among my people. They lie in wait like bird catchers hiding in ambush. They set deadly traps to catch people.

  • Ps 9:15
    70%

    15The nations fell into the pit they had made; their feet were caught in the net they had hidden.

  • Job 22:10
    69%

    10That is why snares surround you, and why sudden fear terrifies you,

  • Eccl 8:11
    69%

    11When a sentence is not executed at once against a crime, the human heart is encouraged to do evil.

  • Ps 35:8
    69%

    8Let destruction take them by surprise! Let the net they hid catch them! Let them fall into destruction!

  • Ps 39:6
    69%

    6Surely people go through life as mere ghosts. Surely they accumulate worthless wealth without knowing who will eventually haul it away.”

  • Eccl 8:14
    69%

    14Here is another enigma that occurs on earth: Sometimes there are righteous people who get what the wicked deserve, and sometimes there are wicked people who get what the righteous deserve. I said,“This also is an enigma.”

  • Prov 24:22
    69%

    22for suddenly their destruction will overtake them, and who knows the ruinous judgment both the LORD and the king can bring?

  • Eccl 3:2
    69%

    2A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to uproot what was planted;

  • Eccl 3:10-12
    3 verses
    69%

    10I have observed the burden that God has given to people to keep them occupied.

    11God has made everything fit beautifully in its appropriate time, but he has also placed ignorance in the human heart so that people cannot discover what God has ordained, from the beginning to the end of their lives.

    12Enjoy Life in the Present I have concluded that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to enjoy themselves as long as they live,

  • Isa 19:8
    69%

    8The fishermen will mourn and lament, all those who cast a fishhook into the river, and those who spread out a net on the water’s surface will grieve.

  • Job 8:9
    69%

    9For we were born yesterday and do not have knowledge, since our days on earth are but a shadow.

  • Eccl 6:1
    68%

    1Not Everyone Enjoys Life Here is another misfortune that I have seen on earth, and it weighs heavily on people:

  • Job 27:20
    68%

    20Terrors overwhelm him like a flood; at night a whirlwind carries him off.

  • Mark 13:33
    68%

    33Watch out! Stay alert! For you do not know when the time will come.

  • Ps 10:9
    68%

    9He lies in ambush in a hidden place, like a lion in a thicket; he lies in ambush, waiting to catch the oppressed; he catches the oppressed by pulling in his net.

  • Job 7:1
    68%

    1The Brevity of Life“Does not humanity have hard service on earth? Are not their days also like the days of a hired man?

  • Job 9:26
    68%

    26They glide by like reed boats, like an eagle that swoops down on its prey.

  • Job 32:9
    68%

    9It is not the aged who are wise, nor old men who understand what is right.

  • Job 28:13
    68%

    13Mankind does not know its place; it cannot be found in the land of the living.

  • Eccl 7:14
    68%

    14In times of prosperity be joyful, but in times of adversity consider this: God has made one as well as the other, so that no one can discover what the future holds.

  • Prov 27:8
    68%

    8Like a bird that wanders from its nest, so is a person who wanders from his home.

  • Eccl 5:14
    68%

    14Then that wealth was lost through bad luck; although he fathered a son, he has nothing left to give him.

  • Luke 21:35
    68%

    35For it will overtake all who live on the face of the whole earth.

  • Eccl 5:16
    68%

    16This is another misfortune: Just as he came, so will he go. What did he gain from toiling for the wind?