Ecclesiastes 2:12-21

¹²Then I looked on to see wisdom, And madness, and folly: For who is the man who will follow after counsel, In all things wherein he employs it?

¹³And I saw that wisdom excels folly, As much as light excels darkness.

¹⁴The wise man’s eyes are in his head; But the fool walks in darkness: And I perceived, even I, That one event shall happen to them all.

¹⁵And I said in my heart, As the event of the fool is, So shall it be to me, even to me; And to what purpose have I gained wisdom? I said moreover in my heart, This is also vanity, Because the fool speaks of his abundance.

¹⁶For there is no remembrance of the wise man With the fool forever; Forasmuch as now in the coming days All things are forgotten: And how shall the wise man die with the fool?

¹⁷So I hated life; Because the work that was wrought under the sun Was evil before me: For all is vanity and waywardness of spirit.

¹⁸And I hated the whole of my labor Which I took under the sun; Because I must leave it to the man who will come after me.

¹⁹And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? And whether he will have power over all my labor In which I labored, and wherein I grew wise under the sun? This is also vanity.

²⁰So I went about to dismiss from my heart All my labor wherein I had labored under the sun.

²¹For there is such a man that his labor Is in wisdom, and in knowledge, and in fortitude; Yet this man shall give his portion To one who has not labored therein. This is also vanity and great evil.