Parallel Bible results for "ecclesiastes 2:12-17"

Ecclesiastes 2:12-17

Common English Bible w/ Apocrypha CEBA

12 My reflections then turned to wisdom, madness, and folly. What can the king's heir do but what has already been done?

13 I saw that wisdom is more beneficial than folly, as light is more beneficial than darkness.

14 The wise have eyes in their head, but fools walk around in darkness. But I also realized that the same fate happens to both of them.

15 So I thought to myself, What happens to the fool will also happen to me. So why have I been so very wise? I said to myself, This too is pointless.

16 There is no eternal memory of the wise any more than the foolish, because everyone is forgotten before long. How can the wise die just like the fool?

17 So I hated life, because the things that happen under the sun were troublesome to me. Definitely, everything is pointless—just wind chasing.

New International Version NIV

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 I saw that wisdom is better than folly, just as light is better than darkness.

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 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 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 done under the sun was grievous to me. All of it is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.