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

Ecclesiastes 2:12-17

New Revised Standard w/ Apocrypha NRSA

12 So I turned to consider wisdom and madness and folly; for what can the one do who comes after the king? Only what has already been done.

13 Then I saw that wisdom excels folly as light excels darkness.

14 The wise have eyes in their head, but fools walk in darkness. Yet I perceived that the same fate befalls all of them.

15 Then I said to myself, "What happens to the fool will happen to me also; why then have I been so very wise?" And I said to myself that this also is vanity.

16 For there is no enduring remembrance of the wise or of fools, seeing that in the days to come all will have been long forgotten. How can the wise die just like fools?

17 So I hated life, because what is done under the sun was grievous to me; for all is vanity and a chasing after wind.

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.