Ecclesiastes 2:12-16
New American Standard Bible
Wisdom Surpasses Foolishness
12 So I turned to (A)consider wisdom, insanity, and foolishness; for what will the man do who will come after the king, except (B)what has already been done? 13 Then I saw that (C)wisdom surpasses foolishness as light surpasses darkness. 14 The wise person’s eyes are in his head, but the (D)fool walks in darkness. And yet I know that (E)one and the same fate happens to [a]both of them. 15 Then I said [b]to myself, “(F)As is the fate of the fool, it will also happen to me. (G)Why then have I been extremely wise?” So [c]I said to myself, “This too is futility.” 16 For there is (H)no [d]lasting remembrance of the wise, along with the fool, since in the coming days everything will [e]soon be forgotten. And (I)how the wise and the fool alike die!
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- Ecclesiastes 2:14 Lit all of
- Ecclesiastes 2:15 Lit in my heart
- Ecclesiastes 2:15 Lit I spoke in my heart
- Ecclesiastes 2:16 Lit forever
- Ecclesiastes 2:16 Lit already
Ecclesiastes 2:12-16
Common English Bible
12 My reflections then turned to wisdom, madness, and folly. What can the king’s heir do but what has already been done? 13 I saw that wisdom is more beneficial than folly, as light is more beneficial than darkness.
14 The wise have eyes in their head,
but fools walk around in darkness.
But I also realized that the same fate happens to both of them. 15 So I thought to myself, What happens to the fool will also happen to me. So why have I been so very wise? I said to myself, This too is pointless. 16 There is no eternal memory of the wise any more than the foolish,[a] because everyone is forgotten before long. How can the wise die just like the fool?
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- Ecclesiastes 2:16 Or The wise and the foolish alike are never remembered.
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