Ecclesiastes 2:15 - Revised Version with Apocrypha 1895

¹⁵ Then said I in my heart, As it happeneth 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 was vanity.

More versions

King James Version (Oxford) 1769

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 wise? Then I said in my heart, that this also is vanity.

Amplified Bible - Classic Edition

¹⁵ Then said I in my heart, As it happens to the fool, so it will happen even to me. And of what use is it then for me to be more wise? Then I said in my heart, This also is vanity (emptiness, vainglory, and futility)!

American Standard Version (1901)

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

Common English Bible

¹⁵ So I thought to myself, What happens to the fool will also happen to me. So why have I been so very wise? I said to myself, This too is pointless.

Catholic Public Domain Version

¹⁵ And I said in my heart: "If the death of both the foolish and myself will be one, how does it benefit me, if I have given myself more thoroughly to the work of wisdom?" And as I was speaking within my own mind, I perceived that this, too, is emptiness.

Douay-Rheims version of The Bible - 1752 version

¹⁵ And I said in my heart: If the death of the fool and mine shall be one, what doth it avail me, that I have applied myself more to the study of wisdom? And speaking with my own mind, I perceived that this also was vanity.

Ecclesiastes 2:15 Cross References

1 Kings 3:12

behold, I have done according to thy word: lo, I have given thee a wise and an understanding heart; so that there hath been none like thee before thee, neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee.

Ecclesiastes 1:14

I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and a striving after wind.

Ecclesiastes 1:16

I communed with mine own heart, saying, Lo, I have gotten me great wisdom above all that were before me in Jerusalem: yea, my heart hath had great experience of wisdom and knowledge.

Ecclesiastes 1:18

For in much wisdom is much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow.

Ecclesiastes 1:2

Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher; vanity of vanities, all is vanity.

Ecclesiastes 2:16

For of the wise man, even as of the fool, there is no remembrance for ever; seeing that in the days to come all will have been already forgotten. And how doth the wise man die even as the fool!

Ecclesiastes 6:11

Seeing there be many things that increase vanity, what is man the better?

Ecclesiastes 6:8

For what advantage hath the wise more than the fool? or what hath the poor man, that knoweth to walk before the living?