25 (A)I applied my heart to know,
To search and seek out wisdom and the reason of things,
To know the wickedness of folly,
Even of foolishness and madness.
26 (B)And I find more bitter than death
The woman whose heart is snares and nets,
Whose hands are fetters.
[a]He who pleases God shall escape from her,
But the sinner shall be trapped by her.

27 “Here is what I have found,” says (C)the Preacher,
Adding one thing to the other to find out the reason,

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Footnotes

  1. Ecclesiastes 7:26 Lit. He who is good before God

25 So I turned my mind to understand,
    to investigate and to search out wisdom and the scheme of things(A)
and to understand the stupidity of wickedness
    and the madness of folly.(B)

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

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

“Adding one thing to another to discover the scheme of things—

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Footnotes

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