Wisdom, Folly, and the Inevitability of Death
Ecclesiastes 2:12-16
Genesis
Exodus
Leviticus
Numbers
Deuteronomy
Joshua
Judges
Ruth
1 Samuel
2 Samuel
1 Kings
2 Kings
1 Chronicles
2 Chronicles
Ezra
Nehemiah
Esther
Job
Psalm
Proverbs
Ecclesiastes
Song
Isaiah
Jeremiah
Lamentations
Ezekiel
Daniel
Hosea
Joel
Amos
Jonah
Micah
Nahum
Habakkuk
Zephaniah
Haggai
Zechariah
Malachi
Matthew
Mark
Luke
John
Acts
Romans
1 Corinthians
2 Corinthians
Galatians
Ephesians
Philippians
Colossians
1 Thessalonians
2 Thessalonians
1 Timothy
2 Timothy
Titus
Philemon
Hebrews
James
1 Peter
2 Peter
1 John
Jude
Revelation
Ecc.2.12 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- ופניתי: VERB,qal,perf,1,c,sg
- אני: PRON,1,sg
- לראות: VERB,qal,inf
- חכמה: NOUN,f,sg,abs
- והוללות: NOUN,f,sg,abs
- וסכלות: NOUN,f,sg,abs
- כי: CONJ
- מה: PRON,int
- האדם: NOUN,m,sg,def
- שיבוא: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- אחרי: PREP
- המלך: NOUN,m,sg,def
- את: PRT,acc
- אשר: PRON,rel
- כבר: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- עשוהו: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,pl
Parallels
- Ecclesiastes 1:9-11 (verbal): The famous dictum 'there is nothing new under the sun'—the same idea that what has been done is repeated, echoing 'what can the man do... that which hath been already done.'
- Ecclesiastes 1:16-18 (thematic): Solomon's reflection on pursuing wisdom and finding it vain and burdensome—parallels the turning to 'wisdom, madness, and folly' and the disappointment with human achievement.
- Ecclesiastes 2:13-14 (structural): Immediate literary continuation: contrasts wisdom and folly but observes that both the wise and the fool face the same outcome—directly develops the thought of 2:12.
- Ecclesiastes 9:2 (thematic): Affirms that the same fate befalls righteous and wicked alike—resonates with the rhetorical question about what one can do after the king and the sense of human limitation.
Alternative generated candidates
- I turned to consider wisdom and madness and folly—what can the man who comes after the king do about what they have already done?
- And I turned to consider wisdom, madness, and folly—for what can the man who comes after the king do concerning what has already been done?
Ecc.2.13 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- וראיתי: CONJ+VERB,qal,perf,1,sg
- אני: PRON,1,sg
- שיש: CONJ+VERB,qal,imperfect,3,m,sg
- יתרון: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- לחכמה: PREP+NOUN,f,sg,abs
- מן: PREP
- הסכלות: NOUN,f,sg,def
- כיתרון: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- האור: NOUN,m,sg,def
- מן: PREP
- החשך: NOUN,m,sg,def
Parallels
- Proverbs 8:12-14 (thematic): Wisdom is presented as superior to folly, offering prudence, knowledge, and counsel—parallels Ecclesiastes’ judgment that wisdom excels folly.
- Proverbs 13:9 (verbal): Uses the light/darkness imagery to contrast the righteous and the wicked ("the light of the righteous... the lamp of the wicked"), echoing Ecclesiastes’ light‑over‑darkness comparison of wisdom and folly.
- Psalm 119:105 (verbal): Describes God’s word as a lamp and light guiding the way; links light imagery with moral and cognitive guidance similar to wisdom’s advantage over folly.
- Isaiah 9:2 (thematic): Speaks of people walking in darkness seeing a great light—a prophetic image of enlightenment that parallels the contrast between wisdom (light) and ignorance/folly (darkness).
- John 1:4-5 (allusion): The Johannine theme of life/light shining in the darkness recalls the biblical metaphor equating light with true knowledge or wisdom that darkness (ignorance/folly) cannot overcome.
Alternative generated candidates
- And I saw that wisdom excels folly, as light excels darkness.
- And I saw that wisdom has an advantage over folly, as light has an advantage over darkness.
Ecc.2.14 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- החכם: ADJ,m,sg,def
- עיניו: NOUN,f,pl,suff
- בראשו: PREP,3,m,sg
- והכסיל: CONJ+NOUN,m,sg,def
- בחשך: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- הולך: VERB,qal,ptc,3,m,sg
- וידעתי: CONJ+VERB,qal,perf,1,_,sg
- גם: ADV
- אני: PRON,1,sg
- שמקרה: CONJ+VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- אחד: NUM,card,m,sg
- יקרה: VERB,qal,perf,3,f,sg
- את: PRT,acc
- כלם: PRON,3,m,pl
Parallels
- Proverbs 4:19 (verbal): Uses the same darkness-stumbling imagery: 'the way of the wicked is like darkness; they do not know over what they stumble,' echoing 'the fool walks in darkness.'
- Job 5:14 (verbal): Describes people meeting darkness by day and groping at noon as at night—parallel language and imagery about blindness/darkness applied to human folly or misfortune.
- Psalm 49:10 (thematic): Asserts that the wise and the foolish share the same fate in death—paralleling Ecclesiastes' claim that one event befalls both wise and fool.
- Ecclesiastes 9:2–3 (structural): Within Qoheleth's own argument: stresses the common destiny of righteous and wicked and the ineffective advantage of wisdom in averting death, directly echoing 2:14’s point about shared fate.
Alternative generated candidates
- The wise man's eyes are in his head, but the fool walks in darkness; yet I perceived that the same event befalls them all.
- The wise man's eyes are in his head, but the fool walks in darkness; and I perceived also that the same thing happens to them all.
Ecc.2.15 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- ואמרתי: VERB,qal,perf,1,_,sg
- אני: PRON,1,sg
- בלבי: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs,1cs
- כמקרה: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- הכסיל: NOUN,m,sg,def
- גם: ADV
- אני: PRON,1,sg
- יקרני: VERB,qal,perf,1,c,sg
- ולמה: CONJ
- חכמתי: NOUN,f,sg,abs+1s
- אני: PRON,1,sg
- אז: ADV
- יותר: ADV
- ודברתי: VERB,qal,perf,1,c,sg
- בלבי: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs,1cs
- שגם: CONJ
- זה: PRON,dem,m,sg
- הבל: NOUN,m,sg,abs
Parallels
- Ecclesiastes 2:14 (structural): Immediate context: contrasts the wise and the fool, observing that both share the same fate (death), prompting the question why wisdom should seem superior.
- Ecclesiastes 2:16 (structural): Continuation of the argument: Solomon concludes that the wise have no lasting advantage over fools, calling this insight also 'vanity'—a direct development of 2:15's realization.
- Ecclesiastes 1:18 (thematic): Expresses the theme that increasing wisdom brings grief and vexation, which underlies the speaker's disillusionment with wisdom in 2:15 ('why was I then more wise?').
- Psalm 49:10-11 (thematic): Affirms the idea that the wise and the foolish alike perish and leave no lasting advantage, echoing Ecclesiastes' motif that wisdom does not ultimately prevent the futility of human fate.
Alternative generated candidates
- Then I said in my heart, 'As the fate of the fool will be mine also—why then have I been more wise?' And I concluded that this too is vanity.
- And I said in my heart, 'As the fate of the fool so will it be for me; why then have I been wiser?' And I said in my heart that this also is vanity.
Ecc.2.16 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- כי: CONJ
- אין: PART,neg
- זכרון: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- לחכם: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- עם: PREP
- הכסיל: NOUN,m,sg,def
- לעולם: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- בשכבר: PREP+ADV
- הימים: NOUN,m,pl,def
- הבאים: PART,qal,ptcp,masc,pl,def
- הכל: PRON,m,sg,abs
- נשכח: VERB,niphal,perf,3,m,sg
- ואיך: CONJ+ADV
- ימות: VERB,qal,juss,3,m,sg
- החכם: ADJ,m,sg,def
- עם: PREP
- הכסיל: NOUN,m,sg,def
Parallels
- Psalm 49:10-12 (verbal): Explicitly states that the wise die like the fool and that human honor/wealth do not endure—closely echoes Ecclesiastes’ claim that the wise are not remembered more than fools.
- Ecclesiastes 9:2-3 (structural): Within the same book the Teacher expands the theme: righteous and wicked share the same fate in death and distinctions are nullified, underscoring the point about forgetting and equality in death.
- Job 21:23-26 (thematic): Job observes that both the wicked and the upright die and are laid low, reflecting the unpredictability of death and the leveling of human distinctions found in Eccl.2:16.
- Isaiah 40:6-8 (thematic): The image that all flesh is grass and human glory is fleeting parallels Ecclesiastes’ emphasis on transience and the eventual fading of remembrance.
- Hebrews 9:27 (thematic): Asserts that death is appointed to all people, reinforcing the biblical motif that death comes to everyone and thereby undercuts lasting human distinctions—an idea at the heart of Eccl.2:16.
Alternative generated candidates
- For the wise man has no more lasting remembrance than the fool; in time all are forgotten, and the wise dies like the fool.
- For there is no enduring remembrance of the wise with the fool; when the days to come have gone, all is forgotten. How then shall the wise die like the fool?
And I turned to consider wisdom, madness, and folly; for what can the man who comes after the king do about what has already been done? And I saw that wisdom excels folly as light excels darkness.
The wise man's eyes are in his head, but the fool walks in darkness; and I perceived also that one and the same thing befalls them all. And I said in my heart, 'As the fate of the fool will befall me also; why then have I been any wiser?' And I said in my heart that this too is vanity.
For the wise man is not remembered forever more than the fool; in the days to come both are forgotten—how then does the wise man die like the fool?