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!
Read full chapterFootnotes
- 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
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Wisdom and Joy Given to One Who Pleases God
12 So I turned to consider wisdom and madness and folly, for what can the king’s successor do? Only what has already been done.(A) 13 Then I saw that wisdom excels folly as light excels darkness.
14 The wise have eyes in their head,
but fools walk in darkness.
Yet I perceived that the same fate befalls all of them.(B) 15 Then I said to myself, “What happens to the fool will happen to me also; why then have I been so very wise?” And I said to myself that this also is vanity.(C) 16 For there is no enduring remembrance of the wise or of fools, seeing that in the days to come all will have been long forgotten. How can the wise die just like fools?
Read full chapterNew American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.