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Ecclesiastes 2:12-16
Holman Christian Standard Bible
Ecclesiastes 2:12-16
Holman Christian Standard Bible
The Relative Value of Wisdom
12 Then I turned to consider wisdom,(A) madness, and folly, for what will the man be like who comes after the king? He[a] will do what has already been done.(B) 13 And I realized that there is an advantage to wisdom over folly, like the advantage of light over darkness.(C)
14 The wise man has eyes in his head,
but the fool walks in darkness.(D)
Yet I also knew that one fate comes to them both.(E) 15 So I said to myself, “What happens to the fool will also happen to me. Why then have I been overly wise?”(F) And I said to myself that this is also futile. 16 For, just like the fool, there is no lasting remembrance of the wise man,(G) since in the days to come both will be forgotten. How is it that the wise man dies just like the fool?
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- Ecclesiastes 2:12 Some Hb mss read They
Ecclesiastes 2:12-16
New Living Translation
Ecclesiastes 2:12-16
New Living Translation
The Wise and the Foolish
12 So I decided to compare wisdom with foolishness and madness (for who can do this better than I, the king?[a]). 13 I thought, “Wisdom is better than foolishness, just as light is better than darkness. 14 For the wise can see where they are going, but fools walk in the dark.” Yet I saw that the wise and the foolish share the same fate. 15 Both will die. So I said to myself, “Since I will end up the same as the fool, what’s the value of all my wisdom? This is all so meaningless!” 16 For the wise and the foolish both die. The wise will not be remembered any longer than the fool. In the days to come, both will be forgotten.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- 2:12 The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain.
Ecclesiastes 2:12-16
New International Version
Ecclesiastes 2:12-16
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,
Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)
Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers, Nashville Tennessee. All rights reserved.
New Living Translation (NLT)
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. 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.