Catholic Public Domain Version
"I continued on, so as to contemplate wisdom, as well as error and foolishness. “What is man,” I said, “that he would be able to follow his Maker, the King?” "
— Ecclesiastes 2:12, Catholic Public Domain Version
“And I turned myself to behold wisdom, and madness, and folly: for what can the man do that cometh after the king? even that which hath been already done.”
“And I turned myself to behold wisdom, and madness, and folly: for whatcanthe mandothat cometh after the king? even that which hath been done long ago. ”
“I turned myself to consider wisdom, madness, and folly: for what can the king's successor do? Just that which has been done long ago.”
“Wisdom is Better than Folly Next, I decided to consider wisdom, as well as foolish behavior and ideas. For what more can the king’s successor do than what the king has already done?”
“I passed further to behold wisdom, and errors and folly, (What is man, said I that he can follow the King his maker?)”
“And I went again in search of wisdom and of foolish ways. What may the man do who comes after the king? The thing which he has done before.”
“And I turned myself to behold wisdom, and madness, and folly: for what can the man do that cometh after the king? even that which hath been already done.”
And I surpassed in opulence all who were before me in Jerusalem. My wisdom also persevered with me.
And all that my eyes desired, I did not refuse them. Neither did I prohibit my heart from enjoying every pleasure, and from amusing itself in the things that I had prepared. And I regarded this as my share, as if I were making use of my own labors.
But when I turned myself toward all the works that my hands had made, and to the labors in which I had perspired to no purpose, I saw emptiness and affliction of the soul in all things, and that nothing is permanent under the sun.
I continued on, so as to contemplate wisdom, as well as error and foolishness. “What is man,” I said, “that he would be able to follow his Maker, the King?”
And I saw that wisdom surpasses foolishness, so much so that they differ as much as light from darkness.
The eyes of a wise man are in his head. A foolish man walks in darkness. Yet I learned that one would pass away like the other.
And I said in my heart: “If the death of both the foolish and myself will be one, how does it benefit me, if I have given myself more thoroughly to the work of wisdom?” And as I was speaking within my own mind, I perceived that this, too, is emptiness.