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25 [a](A)I turned my heart toward knowledge; I sought and pursued wisdom and its design, and I recognized that wickedness is foolishness and folly is madness.

Critique of Advice on Women. 26 (B)More bitter than death I find the woman[b] who is a hunter’s trap, whose heart is a snare, whose hands are prison bonds. The one who pleases God will be delivered from her, but the one who displeases will be entrapped by her. 27 See, this have I found, says Qoheleth, adding one to one to find the sum.

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Footnotes

  1. 7:25–29 The emphasis is on the devious designs of human beings in general, reflecting the viewpoint of Genesis.
  2. 7:26 More bitter than death…the woman: warnings against the scheming, adulterous woman are common in ancient wisdom (e.g., Prv 2:16–19, etc.).

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