Bible verse
Then I turned to consider wisdom and madness and folly; for what more can the king’s successor do than what has already been accomplished?
Ecclesiastes 2:12 · BSB
The verses around it, from Ecclesiastes 2.
8 and I accumulated for myself silver and gold and the treasure of kings and provinces. I gathered to myself male and female singers, and the delights of the sons of men—many concubines.
9 So I became great and surpassed all in Jerusalem who had preceded me; and my wisdom remained with me.
10 Anything my eyes desired, I did not deny myself. I refused my heart no pleasure. For my heart took delight in all my work, and this was the reward for all my labor.
11 Yet when I considered all the works that my hands had accomplished and what I had toiled to achieve, I found everything to be futile, a pursuit of the wind; there was nothing to be gained under the sun.
12 Then I turned to consider wisdom and madness and folly; for what more can the king’s successor do than what has already been accomplished?
13 And I saw that wisdom exceeds folly, just as light exceeds darkness:
14 The wise man has eyes in his head, but the fool walks in darkness. Yet I also came to realize that one fate overcomes them both.
15 So I said to myself, “The fate of the fool will also befall me. What then have I gained by being wise?” And I said to myself that this too is futile.
16 For there is no lasting remembrance of the wise, just as with the fool, seeing that both will be forgotten in the days to come. Alas, the wise man will die just like the fool!
KJV
And I turned myself to behold wisdom, and madness, and folly: for what [can] the man [do] that cometh after the king? [even] that which hath been already done.
ASV
And I turned myself to behold wisdom, and madness, and folly: for what can the man do that cometh after the king? even that which hath been done long ago.
ERV
And I turned myself to behold wisdom, and madness and folly; for what can the man do that cometh after the king? even that which hath been already done.
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Scripture quotations are from the Berean Standard Bible, which is free of copyright restrictions for use on websites. Read the full Bible on Great Faith.