Ecclesiastes 2:15

So I said to myself, “The fate of the fool will also befall me. What then have I gained by being wise?” And I said to myself that this too is futile.

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — The Preacher addresses himself in the first person, reflecting on his own accumulated wisdom immediately after observing that both the wise and the fool share an identical ultimate destiny (Eccl 2:14). He is mid-evaluation, weighing the practical value of his insight against the inevitability of mortality.

The words — The text foregrounds כְּמִקְרֵה הַכְּסִיל (ke/mik-reh ha-ke-sil), literally "like the fate of the fool," and the verb יִקְרֵנִי (yi-ke-re-ni), meaning "it will happen to me." These phrases structurally bind the speaker's future to the fool's, emphasizing unavoidable convergence rather than moral distinction.

The thread — The convergence of wisdom and folly under a single fate continues in Ecclesiastes 2:16, where neither group leaves a lasting remembrance, and directly answers the rhetorical challenge in Ecclesiastes 6:8 regarding any enduring advantage the wise hold over the fool. The tension between bestowed discernment and its ultimate erasure also parallels the narrative context of 1 Kings 3:12.

Why it lands — The text states that intellectual advantage yields no permanent preservation against universal decay, forcing the reader to confront the limits of human calculation. It demands an unflinching acknowledgment that wisdom cannot alter the shared biological endpoint, regardless of accumulated knowledge.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.

The Hebrew words

וְאָמַ֨רְתִּֽיve./'a.Mar.tiand/ I said אֲנִ֜י'a.NiI בְּלִבִּ֗יbe./li.B/iin/ heart/ my כְּמִקְרֵ֤הke./mik.Rehlike/ [the] fate of הַכְּסִיל֙ha./ke.Silthe/ fool גַּם־gam-also אֲנִ֣י'a.Nime יִקְרֵ֔נִיyik.Re./niit will happen to/ me וְלָ֧מָּהve./La./mahand/ <to>/ why?חָכַ֛מְתִּיcha.Kham.tihave I become wise אֲנִ֖י'a.NiI אָ֣ז'azthen יוֹתֵ֑רyo.Terexcessively וְדִבַּ֣רְתִּיve./di.Bar.tiand/ I said בְלִבִּ֔יve./li.B/iin/ heart/ my שֶׁגַּם־she./gam-that/ also זֶ֖הzehthis הָֽבֶל׃Ha.vel[is] futility

King James Version

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.

Cross-references

Ecclesiastes 6:8 What advantage, then, has the wise man over the fool? What gain comes to the poor man who knows how to conduct himself before others?
Ecclesiastes 1:14 I have seen all the things that are done under the sun, and have found them all to be futile, a pursuit of the wind.
1 Kings 3:12 behold, I will do what you have asked. I will give you a wise and discerning heart, so that there will never have been another like you, nor will there ever be.
Ecclesiastes 1:2 “Futility of futilities,” says the Teacher, “futility of futilities! Everything is futile!”
Ecclesiastes 1:16 I said to myself, “Behold, I have grown and increased in wisdom beyond all those before me who were over Jerusalem, and my mind has observed a wealth of wisdom and knowledge.”
Ecclesiastes 1:18 For with much wisdom comes much sorrow, and as knowledge grows, grief increases.
Ecclesiastes 2:16 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!