Ecclesiastes 2:14

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Ecclesiastes 2:12–16 · Berean Standard Bible

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.

16 For there is no lasting remembrance of the wise, just as with the fool, seeing that both will be forgotten in the days to come. Alas, the wise man will die just like the fool!

Hebrew words

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Cross-references

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

Ecclesiastes 8:1

Who is like the wise man? Who knows the interpretation of a matter? A man’s wisdom brightens his face, and the sternness of his face is changed.

Ecclesiastes 10:2

A wise man’s heart inclines to the right, but the heart of a fool to the left.

Ecclesiastes 10:3

Even as the fool walks along the road, his sense is lacking, and he shows everyone that he is a fool.

Proverbs 14:8

The wisdom of the prudent is to discern his way, but the folly of fools deceives them.

Proverbs 17:24

Wisdom is the focus of the discerning, but the eyes of a fool wander to the ends of the earth.

1 John 2:11

But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness. He does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

Ecclesiastes 9:1

So I took all this to heart and concluded that the righteous and the wise, as well as their deeds, are in God’s hands. Man does not know what lies ahead, whether love or hate.

Ecclesiastes 9:2

It is the same for all: There is a common fate for the righteous and the wicked, for the good and the bad, for the clean and the unclean, for the one who sacrifices and the one who does not. As it is for the good, so it is for the sinner; as it is for the one who makes a vow, so it is for the one who refuses to take a vow.

Ecclesiastes 9:3

This is an evil in everything that is done under the sun: There is one fate for everyone. Furthermore, the hearts of men are full of evil and madness while they are alive, and afterward they join the dead.

Ecclesiastes 9:11

I saw something else under the sun: The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong; neither is the bread to the wise, nor the wealth to the intelligent, nor the favor to the skillful. For time and chance happen to all.

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.”

Psalms 19:10

They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the comb.

Psalms 49:10

For it is clear that wise men die, and the foolish and the senseless both perish and leave their wealth to others.