American Standard Version ASV
New International Version NIV
12 And I turned myself to behold wisdom, and madness, and folly: for what [can] the man [do] that cometh after the king? [even] that which hath been done long ago.
12
Then I turned my thoughts to consider wisdom, and also madness and folly. What more can the king’s successor do than what has already been done?
13 Then I saw that wisdom excelleth folly, as far as light excelleth darkness.
13
I saw that wisdom is better than folly, just as light is better than darkness.
14 The wise man's eyes are in his head, and the fool walketh in darkness: and yet I perceived that one event happeneth to them all.
14
The wise have eyes in their heads, while the fool walks in the darkness; but I came to realize that the same fate overtakes them both.
15 Then said I in my heart, As it happeneth to the fool, so will it happen even to me; and why was I then more wise? Then said I in my heart, that this also is vanity.
15
Then I said to myself, “The fate of the fool will overtake me also. What then do I gain by being wise?” I said to myself, “This too is meaningless.”
16 For of the wise man, even as of the fool, there is no remembrance for ever; seeing that in the days to come all will have been long forgotten. And how doth the wise man die even as the fool!
16
For the wise, like the fool, will not be long remembered; the days have already come when both have been forgotten. Like the fool, the wise too must die!
17 So I hated life, because the work that is wrought under the sun was grievous unto me; for all is vanity and a striving after wind.
17
So I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. All of it is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.
The American Standard Version is in the public domain.
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