Font Size
Ecclesiastes 2:12-14
English Standard Version
Ecclesiastes 2:12-14
English Standard Version
The Vanity of Living Wisely
12 (A)So I turned to consider (B)wisdom and madness and folly. For what can the man do who comes after the king? Only (C)what has already been done. 13 Then I saw that there is more gain in wisdom than in folly, as there is more gain in light than in darkness. 14 (D)The wise person has his eyes in his head, but the fool walks in darkness. And yet I perceived that the (E)same event happens to all of them.
Read full chapter
Ecclesiastes 2:12-14
New International Version
Ecclesiastes 2:12-14
New International Version
Wisdom and Folly Are Meaningless
12 Then I turned my thoughts to consider wisdom,
and also madness and folly.(A)
What more can the king’s successor do
than what has already been done?(B)
13 I saw that wisdom(C) is better than folly,(D)
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.(E)
English Standard Version (ESV) 
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
New International Version (NIV) 
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.