Ecclesiastes 2:14

The End of the Wise and the Fool

12 Then I turned myself to consider wisdom ^aand madness and folly;
For what can the man do who succeeds the king?—
Only what he has already ^bdone.

13 Then I saw that wisdom ^aexcels folly
As light excels darkness.

14 ^aThe wise man’s eyes are in his head,
But the fool walks in darkness.
Yet I myself perceived
That ^bthe same event happens to them all.

15 So I said in my heart,
“As it happens to the fool,
It also happens to me,
And why was I then more wise?”
Then I said in my heart,
“This also is vanity.”

16 For there is ^ano more remembrance of the wise than of the fool forever,
Since all that now is will be forgotten in the days to come.
And how does a wise man die?
As the fool!

17 Therefore I hated life because the work that was done under the sun was distressing to me, for all is vanity and grasping for the wind.

18 Then I hated all my labor in which I had toiled under the sun, because ^aI must leave it to the man who will come after me.

19 And who knows whether he will be wise or a fool? Yet he will rule over all my labor in which I toiled and in which I have shown myself wise under the sun. This also is vanity.

Commentaries:

Adam Clarke

<< Ecclesiastes 2:13

Ecclesiastes 2:15 >>

Ecclesiastes 2:14

The wise man' s eyes, etc. - Well expressed by Choheleth: -

"The wise are circumspect, maturely weigh

The consequence of what they undertake,

Good ends propose, and fittest means apply

To accomplish their designs."

But the fool walketh in darkness -

"But fools, deprived

Of reason' s guidance, or in darkness grope,

Or, unreflecting like a frantic man,

Who on the brink of some steep precipice

Attempts to run a race with heedless steps,

Rush to their own perdition."

One event happeneth to them all -

"Though wide the difference, what has human pride

To boast? Even I myself too plainly saw,

That one event to both alike befalls;

To various accidents of life exposed,

Without distinction: nor can wisdom screen

From dangers, disappointments, grief, and pain."

<< Ecclesiastes 2:13

Ecclesiastes 2:15 >>

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The End of the Wise and the Fool

A Verse and a Thought,Every Morning

A Verse and a Thought,
Every Morning