Wisdom Is Meaningless

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

15 What is crooked cannot be straightened;(F)
    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;(G) I have experienced much of wisdom and knowledge.” 17 Then I applied myself to the understanding of wisdom,(H) and also of madness and folly,(I) but I learned that this, too, is a chasing after the wind.

18 For with much wisdom comes much sorrow;(J)
    the more knowledge, the more grief.(K)

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