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Text -- Ecclesiastes 2:12-17 (NET)
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Strongs On/Off
Context
Wisdom is Better than Folly
2:12 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 ?
2:13 I realized that wisdom is preferable to folly , just as light is preferable to darkness :
2:14 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.
2:15 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 !”
2:16 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 !
2:17 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 .
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Names, People and Places, Dictionary Themes and Topics
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Dictionary Themes and Topics:
Experiment |
Wisdom |
Philosophy |
Life |
Death |
Pleasure |
HAPPEN |
CHANCE |
FOOL; FOLLY |
Mankind |
Worldliness |
Vanity |
Industry |
HAP; HAPLY |
EVENT |
Complaint |
Madness |
Investigation |
Light |
more
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expand allCommentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes
NET Notes: Ecc 2:12 The Hebrew text reads עָשׂוּהוּ (’asuhu, “they have done it”; Qal perfect 3rd ...
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NET Notes: Ecc 2:14 The term כֻּלָּם (kullam, “all of them”) denotes “both of them.” This is an example ...
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NET Notes: Ecc 2:15 The word “ultimately” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity.
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NET Notes: Ecc 2:16 The preposition עִם (’im, “with”) may occasionally function in a comparative sense, meaning “together with; ...
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