Ecclesiastes 1:12-18

12 I, the Teacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem. 13 I applied my mind to study and to explore by wisdom all that is done under the heavens. What a heavy burden God has laid on mankind! 14 I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind.

15What is crooked cannot be straightened; what is lacking cannot be counted.

16 I said to myself, Look, I have increased in wisdom more than anyone who has ruled over Jerusalem before me; I have experienced much of wisdom and knowledge. 17 Then I applied myself to the understanding of wisdom, and also of madness and folly, but I learned that this, too, is a chasing after the wind.

18For with much wisdom comes much sorrow; the more knowledge, the more grief.

Ecclesiastes 2:12-16

12Then I turned my thoughts to consider wisdom, and also madness and folly.What more can the kings successor do than what has already been done?13I saw that wisdom is better than folly, just as light is better than darkness.14The 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.

15 Then I said to myself,

The fate of the fool will overtake me also. What then do I gain by being wise?I said to myself, This too is meaningless.16For the wise, like the fool, will not be long remembered; the days have already come when both have been forgotten.Like the fool, the wise too must die!