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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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The Vanity of Living Wisely

12 (A)So I turned to consider (B)wisdom and madness and folly. For what can the man do who comes after the king? Only (C)what has already been done. 13 Then I saw that there is more gain in wisdom than in folly, as there is more gain in light than in darkness. 14 (D)The wise person has his eyes in his head, but the fool walks in darkness. And yet I perceived that the (E)same event happens to all of them. 15 Then I said in my heart, (F)“What happens to the fool will happen to me also. Why then have I been so very wise?” And I said in my heart that this also is vanity. 16 For of the wise as of the fool there is (G)no enduring remembrance, seeing that in the days to come all will have been long forgotten. (H)How the wise dies just like the fool!

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