Ecclesiastes 2:13

13 I saw that being wise is certainly better than being foolish, just as light is better than darkness.

Ecclesiastes 2:13 Meaning and Commentary

Ecclesiastes 2:13

Then I sat that wisdom excelleth folly
However, this upon a review of things he could not but own, that natural wisdom and knowledge, though there was no true happiness and satisfaction in them, yet they greatly exceeded folly and madness; as far as light excelleth darkness;
as the light of the day the darkness of the night; the one is pleasant and delightful, the other very uncomfortable; the one useful to direct in walking, the other very unsafe to walk in: light sometimes signifies joy and prosperity, and darkness adversity; the one is used to express the light of grace, and the other the darkness of sin and ignorance; now as the natural light exceeds darkness, and prosperity exceeds adversity and calamities, and a state of grace exceeds a state of sin and wickedness, so wisdom exceeds folly.

Ecclesiastes 2:13 In-Context

11 But then I looked at what I had done, and I thought about all the hard work. Suddenly I realized it was useless, like chasing the wind. There is nothing to gain from anything we do here on earth.

12 Then I began to think again about being wise, and also about being foolish and doing crazy things. But after all, what more can anyone do? He can't do more than what the other king has already done.

13 I saw that being wise is certainly better than being foolish, just as light is better than darkness.

14 Wise people see where they are going, but fools walk around in the dark. Yet I saw that both wise and foolish people end the same way.

15 I thought to myself, "What happens to a fool will happen to me, too, so what is the reward for being wise?" I said to myself, "Being wise is also useless."