Logos Bible Study

Ecclesiastes 2:14

The NET BibleOther versions

English

Arabic

Czech

French

German

Hebrew

Hungarian

Italian

Korean

Latin

Portuguese

Russian

Simplified Chinese

Spanish

Traditional Chinese

2:14The wise man can see where he is going,59 but the fool walks in darkness.

Yet I also realized that the same fate60 happens to them both.61

Read in Logos

Footnotes

  1. 59 Heb “has his eyes in his head.” The term עַיִן (’ayin, “eye”) is used figuratively in reference to mental and spiritual faculties ( 744 עַיִן 3.a). The term “eye” is a metonymy of cause (eye) for effect (sight and perception).
  2. 60 The common fate to which Qoheleth refers is death.
  3. 61 The term כֻּלָּם (kullam, “all of them”) denotes “both of them.” This is an example of synecdoche of general (“all of them”) for the specific (“both of them,” that is, both the wise man and the fool).

In other versions

ESVEnglish Standard Version

The wise person has his eyes in his head, but the fool walks in darkness. And yet I perceived that the same event happens to all of them.

NIVNew International Version (2011)

The wise have eyes in their heads,

while the fool walks in the darkness;

but I came to realize

that the same fate overtakes them both.

CSBChristian Standard Bible

The wise person has eyes in his head,

but the fool walks in darkness.

Yet I also knew that one fate comes to them both.

NLTNew Living Translation

For the wise can see where they are going, but fools walk in the dark.” Yet I saw that the wise and the foolish share the same fate.

LEBThe Lexham English Bible

The wise man can see where he is walking, but the fool walks in darkness. Yet I also realized that both of them suffer the same fate.

KJV 1900King James Version

The wise man’s eyes are in his head; but the fool walketh in darkness: and I myself perceived also that one event happeneth to them all.