Scripture · Old Testament
Ecclesiastes 2:16
Ecclesiastes 2:16 is verse 16 of Ecclesiastes chapter 2, shown here in the Berean Standard Bible.
Berean Standard Bible
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!
King James Version
For there is no remembrance of the wise more than of the fool for ever; seeing that which now is in the days to come shall all be forgotten. And how dieth the wise man? as the fool.
World English Bible
For of the wise man, even as of the fool, there is no memory forever, since in the days to come all will have been long forgotten. Indeed, the wise man must die just like the fool!
Read in context
Ecclesiastes 2:14–18 · Berean Standard Bible
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!
17 So I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. For everything is futile and a pursuit of the wind.
18 I hated all for which I had toiled under the sun, because I must leave it to the man who comes after me.
Read all of Ecclesiastes 2Hebrew words
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Study Ecclesiastes 2:16
Cross-references
The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge lists these related verses. Scripture text comes from the Berean Standard Bible.
Ecclesiastes 1:11There is no remembrance of those who came before, and those yet to come will not be remembered by those who follow after.
Exodus 1:6Now Joseph and all his brothers and all that generation died,
Exodus 1:8Then a new king, who did not know Joseph, came to power in Egypt.
Psalms 88:12Will Your wonders be known in the darkness, or Your righteousness in the land of oblivion?
Psalms 103:16when the wind passes over, it vanishes, and its place remembers it no more.
Malachi 3:16At that time those who feared the LORD spoke with one another, and the LORD listened and heard them. So a scroll of remembrance was written before Him regarding those who feared the LORD and honored His name.
Ecclesiastes 6:8What advantage, then, has the wise man over the fool? What gain comes to the poor man who knows how to conduct himself before others?
2 Samuel 3:33And the king sang this lament for Abner: “Should Abner die the death of a fool?
Psalms 49:10For it is clear that wise men die, and the foolish and the senseless both perish and leave their wealth to others.
Hebrews 9:27Just as man is appointed to die once, and after that to face judgment,