Ecclesiastes 2:12-16

GOD’S WORD Translation

Death Is the Common Destiny of All Life

¹² Then I turned ⌞my attention⌟ to experience wisdom, madness, and foolishness. For instance, what can the man who replaces the king do? Only what has already been done. ¹³ But I saw that wisdom has an advantage over foolishness as light has an advantage over darkness. ¹⁴ A wise person uses the eyes in his head, but a fool walks in the dark. But I have also come to realize that the same destiny waits for both of them.

¹⁵ I thought to myself, “⌞If⌟ the destiny that waits for the fool waits for me as well, then what is the advantage in being wise?” So I thought that even this is pointless.

Without God Everything Is Pointless

¹⁶ Neither the wise person nor the fool will be remembered for long, since both will be forgotten in the days to come. Both the wise person and the fool will die.