²² A wise man goes up into the town of the strong ones, and overcomes its strength in which they put their faith.

¹⁹ Wisdom makes a wise man stronger than ten rulers in a town.

⁶ And the king and his men went to Jerusalem against the Jebusites, the people of the land: and they said to David, You will not come in here, but the blind and the feeble-footed will keep you out; for they said, David will not be able to come in here.

⁷ But David took the strong place of Zion, which is the town of David.

⁸ And that day David said, Whoever makes an attack on the Jebusites, let him go up by the water-pipe, and put to death all the blind and feeble-footed who are hated by David. And this is why they say, The blind and feeble-footed may not come into the house.

⁹ So David took the strong tower for his living-place, naming it the town of David. And David took in hand the building of the town all round, starting from the Millo.

¹⁶ Then a wise woman got up on the wall, and crying out from the town, said, Give ear, give ear; say now to Joab, Come near, so that I may have talk with you.

¹⁷ And he came near, and the woman said, Are you Joab? And he said in answer, I am. Then she said, Give ear to your servant's words. And he said, I am giving ear.

¹⁸ Then she said, In the old days, there was a saying, Let them put the question in Abel and in Dan, saying, Has what was ordered by men of good faith in Israel ever come to an end?

¹⁹ Your purpose is the destruction of a mother-town in Israel: why would you put an end to the heritage of the Lord?

²⁰ And Joab, answering her, said, Far, far be it from me to be a cause of death or destruction;

²¹ Not so: but a man of the hill-country of Ephraim, Sheba, son of Bichri, by name, has taken up arms against the king, against David: give up this man only, and I will go away from the town. And the woman said to Joab, His head will be dropped over the wall to you.

²² Then the woman in her wisdom had talk with all the town. And they had Sheba's head cut off and sent out to Joab. And he had the horn sounded, and sent them all away from the town, every man to his tent. And Joab went back to Jerusalem to the king.

⁵ A wise man is strong; and a man of knowledge makes strength greater.

¹³ This again I have seen under the sun as wisdom and it seemed great to me.

¹⁴ There was a little town and the number of its men was small, and there came a great king against it and made an attack on it, building works of war round about it.

¹⁵ Now there was in the town a poor, wise man, and he, by his wisdom, kept the town safe. But no one had any memory of that same poor man.

¹⁶ Then I said, Wisdom is better than strength, but the poor man's wisdom is not respected, and his words are not given a hearing.

¹⁷ The words of the wise which come quietly to the ear are noted more than the cry of a ruler among the foolish.

¹⁸ Wisdom is better than instruments of war, but one sinner is the destruction of much good.