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Ecclesiastes 2:12-15
New King James Version
Ecclesiastes 2:12-15
New King James Version
The End of the Wise and the Fool
12 Then I turned myself to consider wisdom (A)and madness and folly;
For what can the man do who succeeds the king?—
Only what he has already (B)done.
13 Then I saw that wisdom (C)excels folly
As light excels darkness.
14 (D)The wise man’s eyes are in his head,
But the fool walks in darkness.
Yet I myself perceived
That (E)the same event happens to them all.
15 So I said in my heart,
“As it happens to the fool,
It also happens to me,
And why was I then more wise?”
Then I said in my heart,
“This also is vanity.”
Ecclesiastes 2:12-15
New International Version
Ecclesiastes 2:12-15
New International Version
Wisdom and Folly Are Meaningless
12 Then I turned my thoughts to consider wisdom,
and also madness and folly.(A)
What more can the king’s successor do
than what has already been done?(B)
13 I saw that wisdom(C) is better than folly,(D)
just as light is better than darkness.
14 The wise have eyes in their heads,
while the fool walks in the darkness;
but I came to realize
that the same fate overtakes them both.(E)
15 Then I said to myself,
“The fate of the fool will overtake me also.
What then do I gain by being wise?”(F)
I said to myself,
“This too is meaningless.”
New King James Version (NKJV) 
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
New International Version (NIV) 
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.