lose a race; and the mightiest warrior, the battle. Smart people may go hungry, skillful ones be ignored. Chance determines everything—riches, fame, power, pleasure, progeny—over it none can exercise control. In the book of Proverbs (and later in Sirach and Wisdom of Solomon), personified Wisdom speaks directly to people, in her care for human welfare.2 In Ecclesiastes, the heavens remain silent. Nor does Qohelet identify religious devotion with wisdom (Job 28:28). In Qohelet’s belief, God withholds