Ecclesiastes 7:25–8:1

²⁵I turned my thoughts to know, explore, and seek wisdom ⁱand an explanation for things, and to know that wickedness is stupidity and folly is madness. ²⁶And I find more bitter than death ^jthe woman who is a trap, ^kher heart a net, and her hands chains. The one who pleases God will escape her, but the sinner will be captured by her. ²⁷“Look,” says the Teacher, “I have discovered this by adding one thing to another to find out the explanation, ²⁸which my soul continually searches for but does not find: among a thousand people I have found one true man, but among all these I have not found a true woman. ^l29Only see this: I have discovered that God made people upright, ^mbut they pursued many schemes.”

Wisdom, Authorities, and Inequities

8Who is like the wise person, and who knows the interpretation of a matter? A man’s wisdom brightens his face, and the sternness of his face is changed. ⁿ