New American Standard Bible 2020

Ecclesiastes 2:12-17

12So I turned to 1consider wisdom, insanity, and foolishness; for what will the man do who will come after the king, except 2what has already been done? 13Then I saw that 3wisdom surpasses foolishness as light surpasses darkness. 14The wise person’s eyes are in his head, but the 4fool walks in darkness. And yet I know that 5one and the same fate happens to 6both of them. 15Then I said 7to myself, “8As is the fate of the fool, it will also happen to me. 9Why then have I been extremely wise?” So 10I said to myself, “This too is futility.” 16For there is 11no 12lasting remembrance of the wise, along with the fool, since in the coming days everything will 13soon be forgotten. And 14how the wise and the fool alike die! 17So I 15hated life, for the work which had been done under the sun was 16unhappy to me; because everything is futility and striving after wind.

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Notes

1. Ecclesiastes 2:12 Eccl 1:17 ↩
2. Ecclesiastes 2:12 Eccl 1:9, 10; 3:15 ↩
3. Ecclesiastes 2:13 Eccl 7:11, 12, 19; 9:18; 10:10 ↩
4. Ecclesiastes 2:14 1 John 2:11 ↩
5. Ecclesiastes 2:14 Ps 49:10; Eccl 3:19; 6:6; 7:2; 9:2, 3 ↩
6. Ecclesiastes 2:14 Lit all of ↩
7. Ecclesiastes 2:15 Lit in my heart ↩
8. Ecclesiastes 2:15 Eccl 2:16 ↩
9. Ecclesiastes 2:15 Eccl 6:8, 11 ↩
10. Ecclesiastes 2:15 Lit I spoke in my heart ↩
11. Ecclesiastes 2:16 Eccl 1:11; 9:5 ↩
12. Ecclesiastes 2:16 Lit forever ↩
13. Ecclesiastes 2:16 Lit already ↩
14. Ecclesiastes 2:16 Eccl 2:14 ↩
15. Ecclesiastes 2:17 Eccl 4:2, 3 ↩
16. Ecclesiastes 2:17 Lit evil ↩

Notes

Commentaries on Ecclesiastes 2