Ecclesiastes 2:12-16
Legacy Standard Bible
Wisdom Excels Folly
12 So I turned to (A)see wisdom, madness, and simpleminded folly. What will the man do who will come after the king except (B)what has already been done? 13 And I saw that there is an advantage in (C)wisdom over simpleminded folly as light has an advantage over darkness. 14 The wise man’s eyes are in his head, but the (D)fool walks in darkness. And yet I know that the (E)fate of one becomes the fate of all of them. 15 Then I said in my heart, “(F)As is the fate of the fool, so will my fate be also. (G)Why then have I been extremely wise?” So I said in my heart, “This too is vanity.” 16 For there is (H)no remembrance of the wise man along with the fool forever, inasmuch as in the coming days all will be forgotten. And (I)how the wise man dies with the fool!
Read full chapter
Ecclesiastes 2:12-16
Lexham English Bible
The Living Must Abandon the Work of their Hands to Others at Death
12 Next, I considered wisdom, as well as delusion and folly. What can anyone do who will come after the king that has not already been done? 13 I realized that wisdom has an advantage over folly, just as light has an advantage over darkness. 14 The wise man can see where he is walking,[a] but the fool walks in darkness. Yet I also realized that both of them suffer the same fate. 15 So I said to myself,[b] “If I also suffer the same fate as the fool,[c] what advantage is my great wisdom?”[d] So I said to myself,[e] “This also is vanity!”
16 Certainly no one will remember the wise man or the fool in future generations.[f] When future days come, both will have been forgotten already. How is it that the wise man dies the same as the fool?
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Ecclesiastes 2:14 Literally “The eyes of the wise are in his head”
- Ecclesiastes 2:15 Literally “in my heart”
- Ecclesiastes 2:15 Literally “Just as the fate of the fool—so it will happen to me!”
- Ecclesiastes 2:15 Literally “why have I been so exceedingly wise?”
- Ecclesiastes 2:15 Literally “in my heart”
- Ecclesiastes 2:16 Literally “the futures”
Legacy Standard Bible Copyright ©2021 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved. Managed in partnership with Three Sixteen Publishing Inc. LSBible.org For Permission to Quote Information visit https://www.LSBible.org.
2012 by Logos Bible Software. Lexham is a registered trademark of Logos Bible Software