Ecclesiastes 2:12

84 translations of 93 that include the Old Testament

American Standard Version (1901)

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 done long ago.

ASV Byzantine Text

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 done long ago.

Asang Khongca Bible

To pacoengah poekhaih ka paqoi moe, palunghahaih, palungmaenghaih hoi amthuhaihnawk to ka poek; sak tangcae hmuennawk pong kamtlai ah, siangpahrang pacoengah kaom kami mah timaw sah thai tih?

Matupi Chin Standard Bible w/ Strongs

Cueihnah hmuh hamla anglatnah neh lunghmangnah khaw ka mael thil. Oepsoeh la a saii pah phoeiah manghai hnukah aka pawk te mebang hlang nim?

Matupi Chin Standard Bible 2019

Cueihnah hmuh hamla anglatnah neh lunghmangnah khaw ka mael thil. Oepsoeh la a saii pah phoeiah manghai hnukah aka pawk te mebang hlang nim?

Hawaiian Bible 1868

A haliu au e ike i ka naauao, a me ka uhauha, a me ka lapuwale; no ka mea, heaha ka mea a ke kanaka [e hana'i] i kiki mai mahope o ke alii? O ka mea wale no i hanaia mamua.

English Berean Standard Bible

Then I turned to consider wisdom and madness and folly; for what more can the king’s successor do than what has already been accomplished?

Haitian Creole Bible 1985

Lè ou gade byen, kisa yon wa ka fè pase sa wa ki te anvan l' yo te fè? Apre sa, mwen pran kalkile sa sa vle di lè yon moun gen konprann, osinon lè yon moun sòt, ou ankò lè yon moun fou.

Clementine Vulgate 1598

[Transivi ad contemplandam sapientiam, erroresque, et stultitiam. (Quid est, inquam, homo, ut sequi possit regem, factorem suum?)

Bible in Basic English

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.

French: Bible J.N. Darby

Et je me suis tourné pour voir la sagesse, et les choses déraisonnables et la folie ; car que fera l’homme qui viendra après le roi ? – ce qui a été déjà fait.

Czech Kralická Bible 1613

Pročež obrátil jsem se, abych spatřoval moudrost a nemoudrost, i bláznovství. (Nebo co by člověk spravil, chtěje následovati krále? To, což již jiní spravili.)

Kosraean Bible

Pwayeiya uh, sie tokosra el ac oru na ma tokosra meet lukel ah oru. Ouinge nga mutawauk nunku lah mea kalmac tuh sie mwet in lalmwetmet, ku in sununta, ku in lalfon.

World Portuguese Bible

Então passei a considerar a sabedoria, a loucura e a tolice; pois o que pode fazer o sucessor do rei? Apenas o que já foi feito há muito tempo.

Romanian BTF Bible

Și m-am întors să privesc înțelepciunea și nebunia și prostia; căci ce poate face omul care vine după împărat? Chiar ceea ce s-a făcut deja.

Brenton English Septuagint

Then I looked on to see wisdom, and madness, and folly: for who is the man who will follow after counsel, in all things wherein he employs it?

Burmese Common Language Bible

တဖန်ငါလှည့်၍ ပညာတရားကို၎င်း၊ လျှပ်ပေါ် ခြင်းနှင့် မိုက်မဲခြင်းတရားတို့ကို၎င်း ဆင်ခြင်၏။ရှင်ဘုရင် နောက်မှာ ဖြစ်သောသူသည် အဘယ်သို့ ပြုနိုင်သနည်း။ ပြုဘူးသည်အတိုင်းသာ ပြုနိုင်၏။

Darby Translation

And I turned myself to behold wisdom, and madness, and folly; for what shall the man [do] that cometh after the king? — that which hath already been done.

German Unrevised Elberfelder Bible

Und ich wandte mich, um Weisheit und Unsinn und Torheit zu betrachten. Denn was wird der Mensch tun, der nach dem Könige kommen wird? Was man schon längst getan hat.

Dutch Bible 1917

Daarna wendde ik mij, om te zien wijsheid, ook onzinnigheden en dwaasheid; want hoe zou een mens, die den koning nakomen zal, doen hetgeen alrede gedaan is?

Dutch Bible, Petrus Canisius

Zo ging ik de wijsheid vergelijken Met dwaasheid en onverstand. Wat zal de opvolger van den koning gaan doen Met alles, wat deze vroeger gemaakt heeft?

Italian Diodati Bible

Laonde mi son rivolto a vedere la sapienza, e le follie, e la stoltizia; perciocchè, che cosa sono gli altri uomini, per poter seguitare il re? essi fanno ciò che hanno già fatto .

Douay-Rheims 1899

I passed further to behold wisdom, and errors and folly, (What is man, said I, that he can follow the King his maker?)

Geneva Bible 1599

And I turned to beholde wisedome, and madnes and follie: (for who is the man that will come after the King in things, which men nowe haue done?)

Noyes Bible

Then I turned myself to behold wisdom and senselessness and folly. For what can the man do that cometh after the king? even that which hath been already done.

Danish Bible 1931

Thi hvad gør det Menneske, som kommer efter Kongen? Det samme, som tilforn er gjort? Jeg gav mig da til at sammenligne Visdom med Dårskab og Tåbelighed.

Leeser Tanakh

And then I turned myself to behold wisdom, and madness, and folly; for what [can] the man [do] that cometh after the king? [only] that which [others] have done already.

JPS TaNaKH 1917

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.

King James 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.

King James Version + Apocrypha

¶ 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.

Vietnamese Bible 1923

Ta bèn xây lại đặng xem xét sự khôn ngoan, sự ngu dại, và sự điên cuồng; vì người nào đến sau vua sẽ có thể làm gì? Bất quá làm điều người khác đã làm từ lâu rồi.

KJV Cambridge Paragraph

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.

Revised West Version

¶ Pea naʻaku tafoki au ke mamata ki he poto, mo e hē, mo e vale: he ko e hā ha meʻa ʻe faʻa fai ʻe he tangata ʻoku muimui ki he tuʻi? ʻAia pe kuo ʻosi hono fai.

French Ostervald Bible

Puis je me suis mis à considérer et la sagesse et la sottise et la folie. (Car que fera l'homme qui viendra après le roi? Ce qui s'est déjà fait. )

Esperanto Bible

Kaj mi turnis min, por rigardi saĝecon kaj malsaĝecon kaj sensencecon; ĉar kion povas fari homo, venonta post reĝo, en komparo kun tio, kion tiu jam antaŭ longe faris?

French Louis Segond 1910 Bible

Alors j’ai tourné mes regards vers la sagesse, et vers la sottise et la folie. Car que fera l’homme qui succédera au roi? Ce qu’on a déjà fait.

German Luther Bible 1912

Da wandte ich mich, zu sehen die Weisheit und die Tollheit und Torheit. Denn wer weiß, was der für ein Mensch werden wird nach dem König, den sie schon bereit gemacht haben?

LXX2012 U. S. English

Then I looked on to see wisdom, and madness, and folly: for who is the man who will follow after counsel, in all things where in he employs it?

British English Septuagint 2012

Then I looked on to see wisdom, and madness, and folly: for who is the man who will follow after counsel, in all things where in he employs it?

Majority Standard BIble

Then I turned to consider wisdom and madness and folly; for what more can the king’s successor do than what has already been accomplished?

Webster Bible

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.

Revised 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.

Italian Riveduta Bible

Allora mi misi ad esaminate la sapienza, la follia e la stoltezza. Che farà l’uomo che succederà al re? Quello ch’è già stato fatto.

French Free Holy Bible for the World

Je me tournai ensuite vers la sagesse, la démence et la folie. Car que pourra faire celui qui succédera au roi, sinon ce qui s'est déjà fait ?

Reina Valera 1909

Después torné yo á mirar para ver la sabiduría y los desvaríos y la necedad; (porque ¿qué hombre hay que pueda seguir al rey en lo que ya hicieron?)

Spanish BLL

Entonces me puse a reflexionar sobre la sabiduría, la locura y la necedad. Porque, ¿qué más puede hacer el sucesor del rey, aparte de lo que ya se ha hecho?

Spanish Free Bible for the World

Volví entonces mis ojos a considerar la sabiduría, la locura y la necedad; porque ¿qué podrá hacer el hombre que suceda al rey? Nada sino lo que ya ha sido hecho.

Croatian Bible

Okrenuh zatim misao svoju mudrosti, gluposti i ludosti. Što, na priliku, čini kraljev nasljednik? Ono što je već učinjeno.

Serbian DK Bible (Latin)

Tada se obratih da vidim mudrost i ludost i bezumlje, jer šta bi činio čovek koji bi nastao posle cara? Šta je već učinjeno.

German Textbibel

Ich wandte mich dazu, mir Weisheit und Tollheit und Thorheit zu besehen; denn was wird der Mensch thun, der nach dem Könige kommen wird? Was man vorlängst gethan hat!

Updated Brenton English Septuagint

Then I looked on to see wisdom, And madness, and folly: For who is the man who will follow after counsel, In all things wherein he employs it?

Hebrew OT (WLC)

וּפָנִ֤יתִֽי אֲנִי֙ לִרְא֣וֹת חָכְמָ֔ה וְהוֹלֵל֖וֹת וְסִכְל֑וּת כִּ֣י ׀ מֶ֣ה הָאָדָ֗ם שֶׁיָּבוֹא֙ אַחֲרֵ֣י הַמֶּ֔לֶךְ אֵ֥ת אֲשֶׁר־כְּבָ֖ר עָשֽׂוּהוּ׃