Ecclesiastes 7:23-29

Legacy Standard Bible

²³ I tested all this with wisdom, and I said, “I will be wise,” ^(A)but it was far from me. ²⁴ What has been is far away and ^(B)exceedingly deep. ^(C)Who can find it? ²⁵ I ^(D)turned my heart to know, to explore, and to seek wisdom and an explanation, and to know the wickedness of foolishness and the simpleminded folly of madness. ²⁶ And I found more ^(E)bitter than death the woman whose heart is ^(F)snares and nets, whose hands are chains. ^(G)One who is good before God will escape from her, but ^(H)the sinner will be captured by her.

²⁷ “See, I have found this,” says the Preacher, “adding one thing to another to find an explanation, ²⁸ which my soul still seeks but has not found. I have found one man out of a thousand, but I have not found a ^(I)woman among all these. ²⁹ See, I have found only this, that ^(J)God made men upright, but they have sought out many devices.”