Sinai LogoSinai

Ecclesiastes 2:12

World English Bible

I turned myself to consider wisdom, madness, and folly; for what can the king’s successor do? Just that which has been done long ago.

Read all of Ecclesiastes 2Open in the Sinai app

Ecclesiastes 2:12 in other translations

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.

Ecclesiastes 2:12 · American Standard Version

Ecclesiastes 2:12 in context

  1. 10Whatever my eyes desired, I didn’t keep from them. I didn’t withhold my heart from any joy, for my heart rejoiced because of all my labor, and this was my portion from all my labor.
  2. 11Then I looked at all the works that my hands had worked, and at the labor that I had labored to do; and behold, all was vanity and a chasing after wind, and there was no profit under the sun.
  3. 12I turned myself to consider wisdom, madness, and folly; for what can the king’s successor do? Just that which has been done long ago.
  4. 13Then I saw that wisdom excels folly, as far as light excels darkness.
  5. 14The wise man’s eyes are in his head, and the fool walks in darkness—and yet I perceived that one event happens to them all.