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11 However, once I began to reflect on all that my hands had accomplished
    and the effort I had exerted in achieving it,
I again came to the realization that everything was vanity and a chase after the wind,
    and that there was nothing to be gained under the sun.

The Wise Man Must Die No Less than the Fool

12 Then my reflections focused on wisdom
    as well as madness and folly,
and I came to the realization that whoever succeeds a king can do nothing,
    since everything has already been done.
13 I also came to understand that more is to be gained from wisdom than from folly,[a]
    just as light is more profitable than darkness.

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Footnotes

  1. Ecclesiastes 2:13 More is to be gained from wisdom than from folly: it is better to be wise, just as to walk in light is better than walking in darkness. However, as far as death is concerned, both the wise believer and the foolish unbeliever meet the same fate (see Ps 49:11).