Ecclesiastes 2:15

15 So I said {to myself}, "{If I also suffer the same fate as the fool}, {what advantage is my great wisdom}?" So I said {to myself}, "This also [is] vanity!"

Ecclesiastes 2:15 Meaning and Commentary

Ecclesiastes 2:15

Then said I in my heart, as it happeneth to the fool, so it
happeneth even to me
The wisest of kings, and the wisest of men; that is, he looked over things in his mind, and considered what had befallen him, or what were his present circumstances, or what would be his case, especially at death; and said within himself, the same things happen to me, who have attained to the highest pitch of wisdom, as to the most errant fool; and therefore no true happiness can be in this sort of wisdom. The Targum paraphrases it thus,

``as it happened to Saul the son of Kish, the king who turned aside perversely, and kept not the commandment he received concerning Amalek, and his kingdom was taken from him; so shall it happen to me;''

and why was I then more wise?
the Targum adds, than he, or than any other man, or even than a fool; why have I took so much pains to get wisdom? what am I the better for it? what happiness is there in it, seeing it gives me no advantage, preference, and excellency to a fool; or secures me from the events that befall me? Then I said in my heart, that this also [is] vanity;
this worldly wisdom has nothing solid and substantial in it, as well as pleasure; and it is a vain thing to seek happiness in it, since this is the case, that the events are the same to men that have it, as to one that has it not.

Ecclesiastes 2:15 In-Context

13 I realized that wisdom has an advantage over folly, just as light has an advantage over darkness.

14 {The wise man can see where he is walking}, but the fool walks in darkness. Yet I also realized that both of them suffer the same fate.

15 So I said {to myself}, "{If I also suffer the same fate as the fool}, {what advantage is my great wisdom}?" So I said {to myself}, "This also [is] vanity!"

16 Certainly no one will remember the wise man or the fool in {future generations}. 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!

Footnotes

• [a]. Literally "in my heart"
• [b]. Literally "Just as the fate of the fool--so it will happen to me!"
• [c]. Literally "why have I been so exceedingly wise?"
• [d]. Literally "in my heart"