Ecclesiastes 2:15-17
Lexham English Bible
15 So I said to myself,[a] “If I also suffer the same fate as the fool,[b] what advantage is my great wisdom?”[c] So I said to myself,[d] “This also is vanity!”
16 Certainly no one will remember the wise man or the fool in future generations.[e] When future days come, both will have been forgotten already. How is it that the wise man dies the same as the fool? 17 So I hated life because the work done under the sun is grievous to me. For everything is vanity and chasing wind!
Read full chapterFootnotes
- 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 2:15-17
New International Version
15 Then I said to myself,
“The fate of the fool will overtake me also.
What then do I gain by being wise?”(A)
I said to myself,
“This too is meaningless.”
16 For the wise, like the fool, will not be long remembered;(B)
the days have already come when both have been forgotten.(C)
Like the fool, the wise too must die!(D)
Toil Is Meaningless
17 So I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. All of it is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.(E)
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