Ecclesiastes 6:8 New English Translation

⁸So what advantage does a wise man have over a fool?^[a]
And what advantage^[b] does a pauper gain by knowing how to survive?^[c]

Ecclesiastes 6:8 sn So what advantage does the wise man have over a fool? The rhetorical question in Hebrew implies a negative answer: the wise man has no absolute advantage over a fool in the sense that both will share the same fate: death. Qoheleth should not be misunderstood here as denying that wisdom has no relative advantage over folly; elsewhere he affirms that wisdom does yield some relative benefits in life (7:1-22). However, wisdom cannot deliver one from death.
Ecclesiastes 6:8 sn As in the preceding parallel line, this rhetorical question implies a negative answer (see the note after the word “fool” in the preceding line).
Ecclesiastes 6:8 tn Heb “ What to the pauper who knows to walk before the living”; or “how to get along in life.”

New English Translation (NET)