Ecclesiastes 2:14
in Ecclesiastes 2The wise man has eyes in his head, but the fool walks in darkness. Yet I also came to realize that one fate overcomes them both.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
The wise man’s eyes are in his head, and the fool walketh in darkness: and yet I perceived that one event happeneth to them all.
KJV
The wise man’s eyes are in his head; but the fool walketh in darkness: and I myself perceived also that one event happeneth to them all.
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This verse in Ecclesiastes 2
Commentary
15 notes on this verseHe hath the use of his eyes and reason, and foresees, and so avoids many dangers and mischiefs. Yet - Notwithstanding this excellency of wisdom above folly, at last they both come to one end. Both are subject to the same calamities, and to death itself, which takes away all difference between them.
This site's exposition
Then I turned to consider wisdom and madness and folly
on Ecclesiastes 2:12-14
The Teacher weighs wisdom and madness and folly and grants that wisdom exceeds folly, just as light exceeds darkness. The proof is sight against blindness: The wise man has eyes in his head, but the fool walks in darkness. Yet he came to realize that one fate overcomes them both.
This site's exposition
one fate overcomes them both
Wesley explains the eyes in the head as foresight, which lets the wise avoid many dangers. The same fate still comes to both, he adds, in calamity and in death, which removes every difference between them. Henry cites Psalm 49, where the wise die with the fool.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers4 voices
[Daniel 2:28] "But there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries." Therefore it is only in vain that thou inquirest (other MSS have: "that he inquire") of men as to something which is known only to God in heaven. Also, by indirectly drawing Nebuchadnezzar away from the worship of many gods, Daniel directs him to the knowledge of the one (true) God. "Who hath shown thee, King Nebuchadnezzar, what is going to take place (the Vulg. reads: "the things which are going to take place") in the last times." Avoiding the blemish of adulation but cleaving to the truth, he courteously suggests that it is to the king, for it was to him that God had revealed secrets concerning what was to occur in the last times. Now either these "last days" are to be reckoned from the time when the dream was revealed to Daniel until the end of the world, or else at least this inference is to be drawn, that the over-all interpretation of the dream applies to that final end when the image and statue beheld is to be ground to powder. "Thy dream and the visions of thy head upon thy bed were as follows." He does not say, "The visions of thine eyes," lest we should think it was something physical, but rather: "of thy head." "For the eyes of a wise man are in his head" (Ecclesiastes 2:14), that is to say in the princely organ of the heart, just as we read in the Gospel: "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they are ones who shall see God" (Matthew 5:8). Again: "What are ye meditating in your hearts?" (Matthew 9:4). To be sure, other authorities in treating of this chapter, conjecture that the authoritative part of the soul (to hegemonikon) lies not in the heart but, as Plato says, in the brain.
"The wise man has his eyes in his head, whereas a fool walks in darkness. But I also realised that the same fate awaits them all. "Whoever attains complete wisdom and has deserved Christ to be his aim always raises his eyes to the heavens and will therefore never think about terrestrial matters. When these things are considered in this way and there is such a distinction between a wise man and a fool, one being compared with day and the other with darkness, the former raises his eyes to heaven, the latter looks on the ground. Suddenly this thought occurred to me, why both the wise man and the fool are constrained by a common mortality - why the same wounds, the same fate, the same death and equal troubles confine each one.
If we think about "eyes" in the visible sense, then (one can say) that both the foolish and the wise have eyes in their head. The wise [person], insofar as he is wise, turns upwards to Christ, his head. Thus it is written: "Christ is …
And first of all, let us understand that the structure of the human body is like that of the world. Just as the sky towers over the air, the earth, and the sea, which are like certain members of the world, so too we see that the head stands out above the other parts of our body and is the most excellent of all, like the sky among the elements, like a citadel among the other fortifications of a city.
The Medieval Church1 voice
A commentator
BonaventureCollationes de Septem Donis, Collation 9 · Written in the 13th century.
proposed
"The eyes of the wise man are in his head," that is, in Christ: "the fool walks in darkness." In Christ is the consummation of every good.
7 more voices on this verse
The Medieval Church2 voices
A commentator
BonaventureCollations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 19 · Written in the 13th century.
proposed
The fourth aspect of the zeal of wisdom is the elevation of desire. This gives worth to other endeavors, so that forgetting what is behind, we strain forward to what is before. "The wise man has eyes in his head. — The heart of a …
A commentator
BonaventureCommentary on Ecclesiastes, Chapter 2 · Written in the 13th century.
proposed
"The eyes of the wise man are in his head," namely for directing: "the fool walks in darkness," as though he had no eyes in his head. That wisdom indeed illuminates, Wisdom 6: "Love the light of wisdom, all you who rule over peoples"; whence …
The Puritans and the Awakening4 voices
A man that is discreet and considerate has the command of his business, and acts decently and safely, as those that walk in the day; but he that is rash, and ignorant, and sottish, is continually making blunders, running upon one precipice or other; his projects, his bargains, are all foolish, and ruin his affairs.
He enquires how far the business and wealth of this world will go towards making men happy, and concludes, from his own experience, that, to those who set their hearts upon it, "it is vanity and vexation of spirit," (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
); those that are most cautious of their health are as so on sick as those that are most careless of it, and the most suspicious are imposed upon." David had observed that wise men die, and are involved in the same common calamity with the fool and the brutish person, Ps. xlix.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens+odd-straight-quotes
The wise man's eyes are in his head,.... And so are the eyes of every man; but the sense is, he makes use of them, he looks about him, and walks circumspectly; he takes heed to his goings, he foresees the evil, and avoids it; or the danger he is exposed unto, and guards against it.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
The wise man’s eyes, etc. - Well expressed by Choheleth: - “The wise are circumspect, maturely weigh The consequence of what they undertake, Good ends propose, and fittest means apply To accomplish their designs.” But the fool walketh in darkness - “But fools, deprived Of reason’s guidance, or in darkness grope, Or, unreflecting like a frantic man, Who on the brink of some steep precipice Attempts to run a race with heedless steps, Rush to their own perdition.” One event happeneth to them all - “Though wide the difference, what has human pride To boast?
The words behind it
14 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| הֶֽחָכָם֙ | hechakham | the wise [person] | H2450 → | 138 times |
| עֵינָ֣יו | ʾeinav | eyes his | H5869 → | 887 times |
| בְּרֹאשׁ֔וֹ | berosho | [are] in head his | H7218 → | 599 times |
| וְהַכְּסִ֖יל | vehakesil | and the fool | H3684 → | 70 times |
| בַּחֹ֣שֶׁךְ | bachoshekh | in <the> darkness | H2822 → | 80 times |
| הוֹלֵ֑ךְ | holekh | [is] walking | H1980 → | 1546 times |
| וְיָדַ֣עְתִּי | veyada'ti | and I knew | H3045 → | 945 times |
| גַם־ | gam- | also | H1571 → | 769 times |
| אָ֔נִי | ʾani | I | H589 → | 874 times |
| שֶׁמִּקְרֶ֥ה | shemikreh | that fate | H4745 → | 10 times |
| אֶחָ֖ד | ʾechad | one | H259 → | 971 times |
| יִקְרֶ֥ה | yikreh | it will happen to | H7136 → | 27 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| כֻּלָּֽם׃ | kulam | all of them | H3605 → | 5413 times |
הֶֽחָכָם֙the wise [person]
hechakhamH2450 →138 times
עֵינָ֣יוeyes his
ʾeinavH5869 →887 times
בְּרֹאשׁ֔וֹ[are] in head his
beroshoH7218 →599 times
וְהַכְּסִ֖ילand the fool
vehakesilH3684 →70 times
בַּחֹ֣שֶׁךְin <the> darkness
bachoshekhH2822 →80 times
הוֹלֵ֑ךְ[is] walking
holekhH1980 →1546 times
וְיָדַ֣עְתִּיand I knew
veyada'tiH3045 →945 times
גַם־also
gam-H1571 →769 times
אָ֔נִיI
ʾaniH589 →874 times
שֶׁמִּקְרֶ֥הthat fate
shemikrehH4745 →10 times
אֶחָ֖דone
ʾechadH259 →971 times
יִקְרֶ֥הit will happen to
yikrehH7136 →27 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
כֻּלָּֽם׃all of them
kulamH3605 →5413 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Ecclesiastes 9:11I saw something else under the sun: The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong; neither is the bread to the wise, nor the wealth to the intelligent, nor…
it leads to
- Jeremiah 9:23
This is what the LORD says: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, nor the strong man in his strength, nor the wealthy man in his riches.
- Proverbs 21:30–31
There is no wisdom, no understanding, no counsel that can prevail against the LORD.
- Lamentations 3:37–38
Who has spoken and it came to pass, unless the Lord has ordained it?
- Job 5:11–14
He sets the lowly on high, so that mourners are lifted to safety.
- Ecclesiastes 3:17
I said in my heart, “God will judge the righteous and the wicked, since there is a time for every activity and every deed.”
- Jeremiah 9:23
Through
1 John 2:11But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness. He does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.
it leads to
- John 12:35
Then Jesus told them, “For a little while longer, the Light will be among you. Walk while you have the Light, so that darkness will not overtake you. The one who walks in the…
- Titus 3:3
For at one time we too were foolish, disobedient, misled, and enslaved to all sorts of desires and pleasures—living in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another.
- John 12:35
Through
Ecclesiastes 3:19For the fates of both men and beasts are the same: As one dies, so dies the other—they all have the same breath. Man has no advantage over the animals, since everything is futile.
it leads to
- Psalms 49:12
But a man, despite his wealth, cannot endure; he is like the beasts that perish.
- Psalms 49:12
Where this verse is studied
About Ecclesiastes
This page draws on 12 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Ambrose of Milan, The Six Days of Creation; Bonaventure, Collationes de Septem Donis, Collation 9; Bonaventure, Collations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 19; Bonaventure, Commentary on Ecclesiastes, Chapter 2; Didymus the Blind, COMMENTARY ON ECCLESIASTES 48:23; Franz Delitzsch, Commentary on the Song of Songs and Ecclesiastes; Jerome, St. Jerome, Commentary on Daniel, CHAPTER TWO; Jerome, Commentary on Ecclesiastes; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.