23 All this I tested by wisdom and I said,

“I am determined to be wise”(A)
    but this was beyond me.
24 Whatever exists is far off and most profound—
    who can discover it?(B)
25 So I turned my mind to understand,
    to investigate and to search out wisdom and the scheme of things(C)
and to understand the stupidity of wickedness
    and the madness of folly.(D)

26 I find more bitter than death
    the woman who is a snare,(E)
whose heart is a trap
    and whose hands are chains.
The man who pleases God will escape her,
    but the sinner she will ensnare.(F)

27 “Look,” says the Teacher,[a](G) “this is what I have discovered:

“Adding one thing to another to discover the scheme of things—
28     while I was still searching
    but not finding—
I found one upright man among a thousand,
    but not one upright woman(H) among them all.
29 This only have I found:
    God created mankind upright,
    but they have gone in search of many schemes.”

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. Ecclesiastes 7:27 Or the leader of the assembly

Bible Gateway Recommends