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Ecclesiastes 2:14

WisdomDeath and loss

12 Then I turned to consider wisdom and madness and folly; for what more can the king’s successor do than what has already been accomplished?

13 And I saw that wisdom exceeds folly, just as light exceeds darkness:

The wise man has eyes in his head, but the fool walks in darkness. Yet I also came to realize that one fate overcomes them both.

15 So I said to myself, “The fate of the fool will also befall me. What then have I gained by being wise?” And I said to myself that this too is futile.

16 For there is no lasting remembrance of the wise, just as with the fool, seeing that both will be forgotten in the days to come. Alas, the wise man will die just like the fool!

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Do read the surrounding verses too, because the context often says more than a single verse.

Compare

BSB
The wise man has eyes in his head, but the fool walks in darkness. Yet I also came to realize that one fate overcomes them both.
KJV
The wise man’s eyes are in his head; but the fool walketh in darkness: and I myself perceived also that one event happeneth to them all.
WEB
The wise man’s eyes are in his head, and the fool walks in darkness—and yet I perceived that one event happens to them all.
ASV
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.
DARBY
The wise man's eyes are in his head, and the fool walketh in darkness; but I myself also perceived that one event happeneth to them all.
BLB
The wise one, his eyes [are] in his head, and the fool is walking in the darkness. And I also knew of that event—the one that happens to all of them.
ÅB
den vise har øyne i sitt hode, men dåren vandrer i mørket. Men jeg skjønte også at det går den ene som den andre.
OTB
De vise har øyne i hodet, mens dåren vandrer i mørket; likevel innså jeg at den samme skjebne rammer dem begge.
B1930
den vise har øine i sitt hode, men dåren vandrer i mørket. Men jeg skjønte også at det går den ene som den andre.

Study notes (Tyndale)

Original text and word study

Cross references

  • Psalms 49:10

    For it is clear that wise men die, and the foolish and the senseless both perish and leave their wealth to others.

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  • Proverbs 17:24

    Wisdom is the focus of the discerning, but the eyes of a fool wander to the ends of the earth.

    Read in context

  • Ecclesiastes 9:11

    I saw something else under the sun: The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong; neither is the bread to the wise, nor the wealth to the intelligent, nor the favor to the skillful. For time and chance happen to all.

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  • Ecclesiastes 9:1–3

    So I took all this to heart and concluded that the righteous and the wise, as well as their deeds, are in God’s hands. Man does not know what lies ahead, whether love or hate.

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  • 1 John 2:11

    But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness. He does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

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  • Ecclesiastes 3:19

    For the fates of both men and beasts are the same: As one dies, so dies the other—they all have the same breath. Man has no advantage over the animals, since everything is futile.

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  • Ecclesiastes 7:2

    It is better to enter a house of mourning than a house of feasting, since death is the end of every man, and the living should take this to heart.

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  • Ecclesiastes 10:2–3

    A wise man’s heart inclines to the right, but the heart of a fool to the left.

    Read in context