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?
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Ecclesiastes 2:12-16
International Standard Version
12 Next I turned to examine wisdom, insanity, and foolishness, because what can a person do who succeeds the king except what has already been accomplished? 13 I concluded that wisdom is more useful than foolishness, just as light is more useful than darkness. 14 The wise use their eyes, but the fool walks in darkness. I also perceived that the same outcome affects them all.
The Pointlessness of Life
15 Then I told myself, “Whatever happens to the fool will happen also to me. Therefore what’s the point in being so wise?” And I told myself that this also is pointless. 16 For neither the wise nor the fool will be long remembered, since in days to come everything will be forgotten. The wise man dies the same way as the fool, does he not?
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