For there is no lasting remembrance of the wise, just as with the fool, seeing that both will be forgotten in the days to come. Alas, the wise man will die just like the fool!
Parallel translations
- WEB For of the wise man, even as of the fool, there is no memory for ever, since in the days to come all will have been long forgotten. Indeed, the wise man must die just like the fool!
- KJV 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.
- NKJV For there is no more remembrance of the wise than of the fool forever, Since all that now is will be forgotten in the days to come. And how does a wise man die? As the fool!
- NASB For there is no lasting remembrance of the wise, along with the fool, since in the coming days everything will soon be forgotten. And how the wise and the fool alike die!
- NLT For the wise and the foolish both die. The wise will not be remembered any longer than the fool. In the days to come, both will be forgotten.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Neither wise nor fool is long remembered, for both die and are forgotten. Death and oblivion erase the earthly distinction between them.
Overview
Qoheleth grieves that the wise gain no lasting memorial, since they too die and fade from memory like the fool. This sharpens the futility of seeking immortality through reputation. Against this bleak prospect, Scripture offers the comfort that those in Christ are remembered eternally by God and raised to imperishable life.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Eccl 1:11There is no remembrance of those who came before, and those yet to come will not be remembered by those who follow after.
- Eccl 9:5For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing. They have no further reward, because the memory of them is forgotten.
- Heb 9:27Just as man is appointed to die once, and after that to face judgment,
- Ps 88:12Will Your wonders be known in the darkness, or Your righteousness in the land of oblivion?
- Exod 1:8Then a new king, who did not know Joseph, came to power in Egypt.
- Mal 3:16At that time those who feared the LORD spoke with one another, and the LORD listened and heard them. So a scroll of remembrance was written before Him regarding those who feared the LORD and honored His name.
- Ps 49:10For it is clear that wise men die, and the foolish and the senseless both perish and leave their wealth to others.
- Eccl 6:8What advantage, then, has the wise man over the fool? What gain comes to the poor man who knows how to conduct himself before others?
- Ps 103:16when the wind passes over, it vanishes, and its place remembers it no more.
- Exod 1:6Now Joseph and all his brothers and all that generation died,
- Eccl 2:14The wise man has eyes in his head, but the fool walks in darkness. Yet I also came to realize that one fate overcomes them both.
- 2 Sam 3:33And the king sang this lament for Abner: “Should Abner die the death of a fool?
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Christ at the center
The search that finds everything 'under the sun' to be vapor exposes the emptiness of life without God and drives us to the one who alone gives meaning, the resurrection that makes our labor not in vain.
How Ecclesiastes 2:16 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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