Ecclesiastes 2:14-20
New American Standard Bible
14 The wise person’s eyes are in his head, but the (A)fool walks in darkness. And yet I know that (B)one and the same fate happens to [a]both of them. 15 Then I said [b]to myself, “(C)As is the fate of the fool, it will also happen to me. (D)Why then have I been extremely wise?” So [c]I said to myself, “This too is futility.” 16 For there is (E)no [d]lasting remembrance of the wise, along with the fool, since in the coming days everything will [e]soon be forgotten. And (F)how the wise and the fool alike die! 17 So I (G)hated life, for the work which had been done under the sun was [f]unhappy to me; because everything is futility and striving after wind.
The Futility of Labor
18 So I hated (H)all the fruit of my labor for which I had labored under the sun, because I must (I)leave it to the man who will come after me. 19 And who knows whether he will be wise or (J)a fool? Yet he will have control over all the fruit of my labor for which I have labored by acting wisely under the sun. This too is (K)futility. 20 Therefore I [g]completely despaired over all the fruit of my labor for which I had labored under the sun.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Ecclesiastes 2:14 Lit all of
- Ecclesiastes 2:15 Lit in my heart
- Ecclesiastes 2:15 Lit I spoke in my heart
- Ecclesiastes 2:16 Lit forever
- Ecclesiastes 2:16 Lit already
- Ecclesiastes 2:17 Lit evil
- Ecclesiastes 2:20 Lit turned aside my heart to despair
New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.
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