Ecclesiastes 2:12-17

English Standard Version

The Vanity of Living Wisely

^12 (A)So I turned to consider ^(B)wisdom and madness and folly. For what can the man do who comes after the king? Only ^(C)what has already been done. ¹³ Then I saw that there is more gain in wisdom than in folly, as there is more gain in light than in darkness. ^14 (D)The wise person has his eyes in his head, but the fool walks in darkness. And yet I perceived that the ^(E)same event happens to all of them. ¹⁵ Then I said in my heart, ^(F)“What happens to the fool will happen to me also. Why then have I been so very wise?” And I said in my heart that this also is vanity. ¹⁶ For of the wise as of the fool there is ^(G)no enduring remembrance, seeing that in the days to come all will have been long forgotten. ^(H)How the wise dies just like the fool! ¹⁷ So I hated life, because what is done under the sun was grievous to me, for ^(I)all is vanity and a striving after wind.