Bible Strands
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!
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Qohelet reflects on his own mortality after concluding that the fool's fate will also befall him, immediately before declaring his hatred of life under the sun.
The words — The verse centers on אֵין זִכְרוֹן ('ein zikhrôn), literally "there is no remembrance," combined with לְעוֹלָם (le-'ôlam), meaning "for a long time," to declare that neither the wise nor the fool retains lasting memory.
The thread — This denial of enduring legacy matches Ecclesiastes 1:11's observation that past and future generations leave no trace, and parallels Ecclesiastes 9:5's claim that the dead retain no memory.
Why it lands — The text states that both the wise and the fool will be forgotten in the days to come, requiring a reader to abandon reliance on posthumous reputation and confront the finality of death.
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
King James Version
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.
Cross-references
- Ecclesiastes 1:11 There is no remembrance of those who came before, and those yet to come will not be remembered by those who follow after.
- Ecclesiastes 9:5 For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing. They have no further reward, because the memory of them is forgotten.
- Exodus 1:8 Then a new king, who did not know Joseph, came to power in Egypt.
- Psalms 88:12 Will Your wonders be known in the darkness, or Your righteousness in the land of oblivion?
- Malachi 3:16 At 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.
- Hebrews 9:27 Just as man is appointed to die once, and after that to face judgment,
- Exodus 1:6 Now Joseph and all his brothers and all that generation died,
- 2 Samuel 3:33 And the king sang this lament for Abner: “Should Abner die the death of a fool?
- Psalms 49:10 For it is clear that wise men die, and the foolish and the senseless both perish and leave their wealth to others.
- Psalms 103:16 when the wind passes over, it vanishes, and its place remembers it no more.