I turned myself to consider wisdom, madness, and folly: for what can the king's successor do? Just that which has been done long ago.
I applied my heart to know wisdom, and to know madness and folly. I perceived that this also was a chasing after wind.
That which is has been long ago, and that which is to be has been long ago: and God seeks again that which is passed away.
I turned around, and my heart sought to know and to search out, and to seek wisdom and the scheme of things, and to know that wickedness is stupidity, and that foolishness is madness.