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12 Now I began a study of the comparative virtues of wisdom and folly, and anyone else would come to the same conclusion I did[a] 13-14 that wisdom is of more value than foolishness, just as light is better than darkness; for the wise man sees, while the fool is blind. And yet I noticed that there was one thing that happened to wise and foolish alike—

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Footnotes

  1. Ecclesiastes 2:12 and anyone else would come to the same conclusion I did, literally, “for what can the man do who comes after the king?”

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)

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