Ecclesiastes 7:25–8:1

^25pI turned my heart to know and to search out and to seek wisdom and the scheme of things, and to know the wickedness of folly and the foolishness that is madness. ²⁶And I find something more ^qbitter than death: ^rthe woman whose heart is ^ssnares and nets, and whose hands are fetters. He who pleases God escapes her, but ^tthe sinner is taken by her. ²⁷Behold, this is what I found, says ^uthe Preacher, while adding one thing to another to find the scheme of things— ²⁸which my soul has sought repeatedly, but I have not found. ^vOne man among a thousand I found, but ^wa woman among all these I have not found. ²⁹See, this alone I found, that ^xGod made man upright, but ^ythey have sought out many schemes.

Keep the King’s Command

8Who is like the wise?

And who knows the interpretation of a thing?

^zA man’s wisdom makes his face shine,

and ^athe hardness of his face is changed.