30 So what advantage does the wise man have over a fool? The rhetorical question in Hebrew implies a negative answer: the wise man has no absolute advantage over a fool in the sense that both will share the same fate: death. Qoheleth should not be misunderstood here as denying that wisdom has no relative advantage over folly; elsewhere he affirms that wisdom does yield some relative benefits in life (7:1–22). However, wisdom cannot deliver one from death.
31 As in the preceding parallel line, this rhetorical question implies a negative answer (see the note after the word “fool” in the preceding line).
32 Heb “What to the pauper who knows to walk before the living”; or “how to get along in life.”

In other versions

ESVEnglish Standard Version

For what advantage has the wise man over the fool? And what does the poor man have who knows how to conduct himself before the living?

NIVNew International Version (2011)

What advantage have the wise over fools?

What do the poor gain

by knowing how to conduct themselves before others?

CSBChristian Standard Bible

What advantage then does the wise person have over the fool? What advantage is there for the poor person who knows how to conduct himself before others?

NLTNew Living Translation

So are wise people really better off than fools? Do poor people gain anything by being wise and knowing how to act in front of others?

LEBThe Lexham English Bible

So do the wise really have an advantage over fools?

Can the poor really gain anything by knowing how to act in front of others?

KJV 1900King James Version

For what hath the wise more than the fool? what hath the poor, that knoweth to walk before the living?

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