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”
Ecclesiastes 2:12-16
Christian Standard Bible
The Relative Value of Wisdom
12 Then I turned to consider wisdom,(A) madness, and folly, for what will the king’s successor[a] be like? He[b] will do what has already been done.(B) 13 And I realized that there is an advantage to wisdom over folly, like the advantage of light over darkness.(C)
14 The wise person has eyes in his head,
but the fool walks in darkness.(D)
Yet I also knew that one fate comes to them both.(E) 15 So I said to myself, “What happens to the fool will also happen to me. Why then have I been overly wise?” (F) And I said to myself that this is also futile. 16 For, just like the fool, there is no lasting remembrance of the wise,(G) since in the days to come both will be forgotten. How is it that the wise person dies just like the fool?
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