Bible verse
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!
Ecclesiastes 2:16 · BSB
The verses around it, from Ecclesiastes 2.
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!
17 So I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. For everything is futile and a pursuit of the wind.
18 I hated all for which I had toiled under the sun, because I must leave it to the man who comes after me.
19 And who knows whether that man will be wise or foolish? Yet he will take over all the labor at which I have worked skillfully under the sun. This too is futile.
20 So my heart began to despair over all the labor that I had done under the sun.
KJV
For [there is] no remembrance of the wise more than of the fool for ever; seeing that which now [is] in the days to come shall all be forgotten. And how dieth the wise [man]? as the fool.
ASV
For of the wise man, even as of the fool, there is no remembrance for ever; seeing that in the days to come all will have been long forgotten. And how doth the wise man die even as the fool!
ERV
For of the wise man, even as of the fool, there is no remembrance for ever; seeing that in the days to come all will have been already forgotten. And how doth the wise man die even as the fool!
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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.