Ecclesiastes 2:13

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Ecclesiastes 2:11–15 · Berean Standard Bible

11 Yet when I considered all the works that my hands had accomplished and what I had toiled to achieve, I found everything to be futile, a pursuit of the wind; there was nothing to be gained under the sun.

12 Then I turned to consider wisdom and madness and folly; for what more can the king’s successor do than what has already been accomplished?

13 And I saw that wisdom exceeds folly, just as light exceeds darkness:

14 The wise man has eyes in his head, but the fool walks in darkness. Yet I also came to realize that one fate overcomes them both.

15 So I said to myself, “The fate of the fool will also befall me. What then have I gained by being wise?” And I said to myself that this too is futile.

Hebrew words

Data created by STEPBible.org based on work at Tyndale House Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

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Cross-references

The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge lists these related verses. Scripture text comes from the Berean Standard Bible.

Ecclesiastes 7:11

Wisdom, like an inheritance, is good, and it benefits those who see the sun.

Ecclesiastes 7:12

For wisdom, like money, is a shelter, and the advantage of knowledge is that wisdom preserves the life of its owner.

Ecclesiastes 9:16

And I said, “Wisdom is better than strength, but the wisdom of the poor man is despised, and his words are not heeded.”

Proverbs 4:5

Get wisdom, get understanding; do not forget my words or turn from them.

Proverbs 4:6

Do not forsake wisdom, and she will preserve you; love her, and she will guard you.

Proverbs 4:7

Wisdom is supreme; so acquire wisdom. And whatever you may acquire, gain understanding.

Proverbs 16:16

How much better to acquire wisdom than gold! To gain understanding is more desirable than silver.

Malachi 3:18

So you will again distinguish between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not.”

Malachi 4:1

“For behold, the day is coming, burning like a furnace, when all the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble; the day is coming when I will set them ablaze,” says the LORD of Hosts. “Not a root or branch will be left to them.”

Malachi 4:2

“But for you who fear My name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings, and you will go out and leap like calves from the stall.

Ecclesiastes 11:7

Light is sweet, and it pleases the eyes to see the sun.

Psalms 119:105

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

Psalms 119:130

The unfolding of Your words gives light; it informs the simple.

Proverbs 4:18

The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, shining brighter and brighter until midday.

Proverbs 4:19

But the way of the wicked is like the darkest gloom; they do not know what makes them stumble.

Matthew 6:23

But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!

Luke 11:34

Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eyes are good, your whole body also is full of light. But when they are bad, your body is full of darkness.

Luke 11:35

Be careful, then, that the light within you is not darkness.

Ephesians 5:8

For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light,