Ecclesiastes 2:16

For of the wise man, even as of the fool, there is no memory forever, since in the days to come all will have been long forgotten. Indeed, the wise man must die just like the fool!

World English Bible

In The King James Version

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.

In Context

15Then I said in my heart, “As it happens to the fool, so will it happen even to me; and why was I then more wise?” Then I said in my heart that this also is vanity.

17So I hated life, because the work that is worked under the sun was grievous to me; for all is vanity and a chasing after wind.

Read all of Ecclesiastes 2

Cross References

Exodus 1:8Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who didn’t know Joseph.

Psalms 49:10For he sees that wise men die; likewise the fool and the senseless perish, and leave their wealth to others.

Psalms 103:16For the wind passes over it, and it is gone. Its place remembers it no more.

Ecclesiastes 1:11There is no memory of the former; neither shall there be any memory of the latter that are to come, among those that shall come after.

Ecclesiastes 6:8For what advantage has the wise more than the fool? What has the poor man, that knows how to walk before the living?

Malachi 3:16Then those who feared the LORD spoke one with another; and the LORD listened and heard, and a book of memory was written before him for those who feared the LORD and who honored his name.

Matthew Henry on Ecclesiastes 2:13-17

Superiority of Wisdom to Folly. 12 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. 13 Then I saw that wisdom excelleth folly, as far as light excelleth darkness. 14 The wise man's eyes are in his head; but the fool walketh in darkness: and I myself perceived also that one event happeneth to them all. 15 Then said I in my heart, As it happeneth to the fool, so it happeneth even to me; and why was I then more… Read the whole commentary →

This Verse In Other Editions

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