Wisdom is Better than Folly

12 Next, I decided to consider wisdom, as well as foolish behavior and ideas.

For what more can the king’s successor do than what the king has already done?

13 I realized that wisdom is preferable to folly,

just as light is preferable to darkness:

14 The wise man can see where he is going, but the fool walks in darkness.

Yet I also realized that the same fate happens to them both.

15 So I thought to myself, “The fate of the fool will happen even to me!

Then what did I gain by becoming so excessively wise?”

So I lamented to myself,

“The benefits of wisdom are ultimately meaningless!”

16 For the wise man, like the fool, will not be remembered for very long,

because in the days to come, both will already have been forgotten.

Alas, the wise man dies – just like the fool!

17 So I loathed life because what

happens on earth seems awful to me;

for all the benefits of wisdom are futile – like chasing the wind.