27 “Look,” says the Teacher,[a](A) “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(B) among them all.
29 This only have I found:
    God created mankind upright,
    but they have gone in search of many schemes.”

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Footnotes

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

27 “This is my conclusion,” says the Teacher. “I discovered this after looking at the matter from every possible angle. 28 Though I have searched repeatedly, I have not found what I was looking for. Only one out of a thousand men is virtuous, but not one woman! 29 But I did find this: God created people to be virtuous, but they have each turned to follow their own downward path.”

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