Ecclesiastes 7:25–8:1

^25yI 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.

^26zAnd I find more bitter than death

The woman whose heart is snares and nets,

Whose hands are fetters.

²He who pleases God shall escape from her,

But the sinner shall be trapped by her.

²⁷“Here is what I have found,” says ^athe Preacher,

“Adding one thing to the other to find out the reason,

²⁸Which my soul still seeks but I cannot find:

^bOne man among a thousand I have found,

But a woman among all these I have not found.

²⁹Truly, this only I have found:

^cThat God made man upright,

But ^dthey have sought out many schemes.”

8Who is like a wise man? And who knows the interpretation of a thing?

^aA man’s wisdom makes his face shine,

And ^bthe ¹sternness of his face is changed.