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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?

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Footnotes

  1. Ecclesiastes 2:14 Literally “The eyes of the wise are in his head”
  2. Ecclesiastes 2:15 Literally “in my heart”
  3. Ecclesiastes 2:15 Literally “Just as the fate of the fool—so it will happen to me!”
  4. Ecclesiastes 2:15 Literally “why have I been so exceedingly wise?”
  5. Ecclesiastes 2:15 Literally “in my heart”
  6. Ecclesiastes 2:16 Literally “the futures”

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.(A)

15 Then I said to myself,

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

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