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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,

“The fate of the fool will overtake me also.
    What then do I gain by being wise?”(F)
I said to myself,
    “This too is meaningless.”
16 For the wise, like the fool, will not be long remembered;(G)
    the days have already come when both have been forgotten.(H)
Like the fool, the wise too must die!(I)

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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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Footnotes

  1. Ecclesiastes 2:14 Lit all of
  2. Ecclesiastes 2:15 Lit in my heart
  3. Ecclesiastes 2:15 Lit I spoke in my heart
  4. Ecclesiastes 2:16 Lit forever
  5. Ecclesiastes 2:16 Lit already
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